The Development of the Modern State

"What is the nature of the modern state, what were its origins, and what seem to be the present trends? In answering these questions ... Poggi succeeds in presenting a well-informed but elegantly parsimonious statement... In its historical depth and concise exposition, it should make very worthwhile reading for graduate students and many of their teachers... An excellent historical introduction for political sociologies." -Guenther Roth ,Contemporary Sociology "A brief but careful introduction to the major forms of the political realm since the Carolingian period in Western Europe... The author treats several prominent forms of political rule: feudal rule, rule by the Standestaat, rule by the absolutist regimes, rule by the nineteenth-century constitutional state, and the rule of present-day liberal regimes. He tells history well, with an admirably lucid and concise prose; and it is a story that is occasionally as penetrating as it is consistently informative." -Anthony M. Orum ,Social Forces "Poggi's expressed intent, namely to render intelligible centuries of political development via the presentation of a succession of highly abstract models ... is achieved with clarity and distinction and in the process opens vistas for further exploration... The book provides a useful base from which to launch a course on the modern state." Social Science Quarterly