S .E .Finer and the Study of Historical Government

费纳的《政府史》从苏美尔开始,述及萨尔贡、埃及、亚述、犹太、波斯、希腊、中国、罗马、印度、拜占庭、哈利发、中世纪欧洲、日本、奥斯曼等地的政治史,然后把焦点转入文艺复兴和新教运动后的欧美政治的突破性发展,并讨论了当代世界三大革命给世界政治、政府形态和国家社会关系带来的变化。费纳对文化相对主义提出了坚决的反对,并对"西方兴起"这一历史命题做了独到的分析。虽然费纳不是任何一个国家和地区史学专家,但他凭借其卓越的理论和分析能力对世界政府历史和政府制度创新过程做出了一般历史学家远不能及的描述和分析。《政府史》是20世纪西方政治学的一部巨著。

This article provides a critical assessment of Samuel E.Finer' s The History of Government .It argues that Finer' s resolute opposition to cultural relativism enabled him to analyze the historical changes of government forms and the issues surrounding the “ rise of the West” in a way that is much closer to the reality than most recent scholarship . Moreover, although Finer was not a specialist , his theoretical framework and exceptional analytical skills allowed him to analyze the institutional innovations and political histories of numerous governments of different regions in the world with a level of complexity and subtlety beyond the reach of most historians .In short , this is by far the best political science book published in the West in recent decades.

赵鼎新

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