State Systems: International Pluralism, Politics, and Culture
Robert G. Wesson
This book presents a cyclical theory of world history and argues that a state system is a group of closely interacting and therefore competing sovereignties where interrelations are comparable in importance to domestic affairs. Examples of state systems include Europe between the Renaissance and the First World War; medieval Europe; the city-state system of ancient Greece; the kingdoms of pre-imperial China and India; and Sumeria in the third millennium B.C. During the age of the state system, a culture thrives, inventors invent, traders trade, and everyone profits. Although aristocrats may hold the reins of power, it is the middle classes who make the difference in this age of freedom and initiative. But the aftermath of the state system is the imperial order, where power becomes centralized and freedom withers. State Systems has several key weaknesses. Above all, facts are carefully selected to prove the same point over and over again, or twisted to fit, and major authorities in the field of comparative world history are ignored. The outcome is a singularly flat, superficial, and uninspired work which reminds one of a typical Soviet textbook with all the values turned upside down.
Année:
1978
Edition:
1
Editeur::
The Free Press
Langue:
english
Pages:
296
ISBN 10:
0029349400
ISBN 13:
9780029349403
Fichier:
PDF, 18.29 MB
IPFS:
,
english, 1978