PREFACE THE first edition of this book was published in 1913. At that time I wrote: "It is a matter of common observation that during the opening years of the twentieth century there has been, in many portions of the civilized world, a substantial quickening of interest in the principles and problems of human government. The United States is happily among those countries in which this development has taken place, and we have seen in recent times not only the organization of societies and the establishment of journals designed to foster research within the field, but also a remarkable multiplication and strengthening of courses in political science offered to students in our colleges and universities, as well as the establishment of clubs, forums, extension courses, and other facilities for increasing political information and stimulating political thinking on the part of the people at large." The book aimed to promote the intelligent study of government, on comparative lines, by supplying working descriptions of the governments and parties of both the larger and smaller states of western and central Europe. Since 1913 the structure, functions, and problems of government have undergone important changes in every European state; in Germany, Russia, and the former Dual Monarchy, Austria-Hungary, reconstruction has sprung from overt revolution. The volume has accordingly been rewritten throughout, not only with a view to better adaptation of contents and proportions to text-book use, but in order to take due account of the far-reaching developments of the war period. It is hardly necessary to say that many European governmental systems are still in an exceptionally fluid state, and that party alignments, notably in Great Britain, Germany, and Russia, are unusually unstable. There is, however, no such thing as fixity or finality in politics; the uncertainties that surround the European political situation to-day differ, after all, only in degree from those with which the student has always to reckon. Furthermore, study of the principles and methods of government is never so profitable as when great political changes are taking place before one's eyes. The general plan of the present volume differs from that of the first edition. A number of chapters dealing with the governments of minor states have been omitted. Chapters devoted to Austria-Hungary have likewise been dropped, and no attempt has been made to cover the governments of the several lesser states which have risen from the wreckage of the former Habsburg dominion. On the other hand, the space allotted to Great Britain is almost doubled, that given to France is practically tripled, and a closing chapter undertakes to set forth the salient features of soviet government in Russia. Italy continues to be treated somewhat briefly, because of the general similarity of the Italian and French political systems. Switzerland is dealt with substantially as before. In the case of Germany I have decided to retain chapters describing the governments and parties both of the Empire and of Prussia up to 1918, partly because every student of comparative government ought to be familiar with the former German system, and partly because more of the old system than is commonly supposed survives in the new. I have, however, added two chapters which are designed to outline German political development during the Great War and to describe the republican institutions set up in 1918. In this portion of the book I have drawn freely upon chapters which appeared in a volume prepared in collaboration with Dr. Charles A. Beard and published in 1918 under the title "National Governments and the World War." MADISON, WISCONSIN, August 10, 1920. FREDERIC AUSTIN OGG CHAPTER CONTENTS PAGE POLITICAL PARTIES SINCE THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY XV. THE MAJOR PARTIES: COMPOSITION AND ORGANIZATION |