ation of political thinking on the
part of the people at large. It is the object of this book to promote
the intelligent study of government by supplying working descriptions
of the governmental systems of the various countries of western and
central Europe as they have taken form and as they operate at the
present day. Conceived and prepared primarily as a text for use in
college courses, it is hoped none the less that the volume may prove
of service to persons everywhere whose interest in the subject leads
them to seek the sort of information which is here presented.

The content of the book has been determined, in the main, by three
considerations. In the first place, it has been deemed desirable to
afford a wide opportunity for the _comparative_ study of political
institutions, especially by reason of the familiar fact that the
governmental system of a minor country may, and frequently does,
exhibit elements of novelty and of importance not inferior to those to
be observed in the political organization of a greater state. Hence
there are included descriptions of the governments of the minor as
well as of the major nations of western and central Europe; and the
original purpose to attempt some treatment of the governments of the
eastern nations has been abandoned, somewhat reluctantly, only because
of the demands of space, and because it was felt that this portion of
the projected work would perhaps meet no very serious need in the
usual college courses. In the second place, it is believed that the
intelligent study of present-day governments must involve at all (p. viii)
stages the taking into careful account of the historical origins and
growth of these governments. Hence a considerable amount of space has
been devoted to sketches of constitutional history, which, however,
are in all instances so arranged that they may readily be omitted if
their omission is deemed desirable. In the case of countries whose
political system underwent a general reconstitution during the
Revolutionary and Napoleonic era it has been thought not feasible to
allude, even briefly, to historical developments prior to the later
eighteenth century. In the third place, it has been considered
desirable to include in the book some treatment of political parties
and of the institutions of local administration.

Within a field so expansive it has been possible to undertake but an
introduction to a majority of the subjects touched upon. In the