Arrival Author: Bao Gangsheng Publisher: Shanghai Joint Publishing Company

Introduction
◎Introduction
“Where do human politics come from?”
“Where are the human politics?”
“Where is human politics heading?”
This book responds to three key questions in the political field from an evolutionary perspective. Focusing on the basic context of human political evolution, this book regards different political systems and political models as "political species", analyzes the social conditions for the birth of early states, and explains the rise and fall of city-states, general states, and empires from the perspective of state differentiation and evolution. It discusses the differences and transformations of monarchical, feudal, constitutional, and democratic systems from the perspective of political system differentiation and evolution, as well as how a series of differences among different human groups in shaping effective states and effectively constraining states have shaped political models in different times and spaces.
If we liken human political evolution to a river, then by understanding the basic direction of the river in the past, we may be able to better understand where we are today and where we are heading in the future.
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◎Highlights of the Work
★ A new work by Bao Gangsheng, professor of the Department of Political Science at Fudan University.
For more than ten years, the author, Professor Bao Gangsheng, has been focusing on the study of political theory and political history, and has taught basic and professional courses in political science at Fudan University. He is good at explaining complex political theories in a detailed and analytical manner, and analyzing current political affairs with a calm and objective attitude. His book "General Knowledge of Political Science" explains political theories and key issues in an easy-to-understand manner, which has been widely praised. On the basis of continuing his analytical style, in this book, the author turns his attention to the long river of political history, expounding the key factors that determine the direction of politics, and looking at the present and the future from the past.
★ Four eras and four major issues present the basic context of human political development and the logic behind it.
This book understands the development and changes of human politics from an evolutionary perspective, and regards more than 5,000 years of political history as a history of political evolution. It analyzes the competition among different "political species" for survival and development from four eras, namely the monarchy era, the feudal era, the constitutional era, and the democratic era. It analyzes major political phenomena in the history of human political evolution around national issues, political power issues, effective constraints on the state, democratic issues, etc., and shows the basic context of political development.
★ Look at the similarities and differences in political evolution from a static perspective, and look at the political landscape from stability to change from a dynamic perspective.
Focusing on the differentiation and evolution of states and political systems, the book examines the commonalities and individualities of human political development, including: Why do political evolutions of different groups all lead to states? Why does the distribution and sharing of national political power experience a continuous downward process from rulers to ruling elites and then to civilians? Why was medieval Europe dominated by feudal political systems while other parts of the world were dominated by centralized political systems? ... Focusing on the changes in the political landscape, the book analyzes the maintenance and disruption of political equilibrium, including: Why do large-scale empires collapse? Why has modern democracy first emerged in Europe and the United States and then globally since the 19th century? ...
★ Focus on representative countries and regions in different periods, and analyze successful and failed cases of nation-building.
From the perspective of mutual shaping between the state and war, we analyze why the ancient Qin State became the first "modern state" while the Jin State, which was second only to the Qin State in terms of geographical structure, was eventually divided; from the perspective of political system, we analyze the rise of the Mongol Empire from the perspective of innovation in war models; from the perspective of the establishment of a constitutional system and the Industrial Revolution, we analyze how Britain gradually developed into a global leader; from the perspective of the power of ideas and political and military perspectives, we look at how the United States achieved independence, constitution-making and nation-building...
★ Historical narrative and theoretical interpretation are integrated to understand complex and changing political developments based on an overall analytical framework.
This book is based on the author's many years of research. On the basis of extensive reading of representative research results in political history, the author re-examines the history of political development from an evolutionary perspective, focusing on the key details and moments in human political development, such as the rise of early human states, the transition from feudal system to constitutional system, the popularization of voting rights, etc., grasping the important nodes of political development in order to understand the changing political development.
★ Understand daily political concepts in political development and form a scaffolding for thinking about real-world problems.
Regarding the political science concepts that we often use, such as state, power, rights, democracy, etc., the author places them in the context of the origin of the state to the 21st century today, taking us to see the origins of such concepts, their specific meanings in different eras, and the research of representative political scholars, so that we can grasp the key concepts of political science and analyze the real problems we face today.
★ Understand the world with political thinking, understand where we are today and where we are going in the future.
If the evolution of human politics is likened to a river, then this book focuses on the mainstream or basic flow of this river, interpreting the basic logic of political evolution. This will undoubtedly help us form political thinking, and then use this thinking to look at today's world and our position, as well as the direction we will reach in the future.