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This unprecedented survey and analysis of government is the late S. E. Finer's tour de force - demonstrating the breadth of imagination and magisterial scholarship which characterized the work of one of the twentieth century's leading political scientists. A unique study of government throughout time and throughout the world, it ranges over 5,000 years, from the Sumerian city-state to the modern European nation-state. Five themes emerge: state-building, military formats, belief systems, social stratification, and timespan. The three volumes examine both representative and exceptional polities, and focus on political elites of different types. Ancient Monarchies and Empires opens with Finer's masterly Conceptual Prologue, setting out the entire scope and structure of The History . Books One and Two then consider early examples of the predominantly `palace' type of polity, notably in respect of the Kingdoms of Egypt and the Empires of Assyria, Persia, Han China, and Rome; interspersed with consideration of the `exceptional' Jewish Kingdoms and the Greek and Roman Republics. The Intermediate Ages (Book Three) encompasses the `church' polities of the Byzantine Empire and the Caliphate; the evolution of the T'ang and Ming Empires in China; the characteristics of feudal Europe, the republican `alternatives' of Florence and Venice, and finally the growth of representative assemblies across Europe. Empires, Monarchies, and the Modern State (Books Four and Five) opens with Tokugawa Japan and thence reviews the evidence on the Ch'ing, Ottoman, and Mughal Empires, before turning to facets of the re-creation, `modernization', and transplantation of the European state model. It concludes with the synoptic review of `Pathways to the Modern State'. Professor Finer's cogent descriptive analysis offers both an invaluable reference resource and an exhilarating journey across time and space. This book is intended for readers with an interest in theories and forms of government; historians of politics and the state.