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 700 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

activity, political activity is relatively simple, whether considered as a system of ends or of means (4). All political action is consciously or unconsciously legislative (5). It does not follow that all political action is essentially egoistic (6). The attempt of a party or of a nation to get the upper hands is always mixed with something else, viz., the desire to realize a program of social reorganization which, conceived by the chief of a party, is the true reason for its being ; or, in the case of nation against nation, a program of reorganization in which there is a more or less developed idea of a good common to conquerors and conquered. Expanding this conception the author reaches the corollary that political power is to the nation what consci- ous and personal will is to the individual (7). Advancing a step he asserts that government is to administration what will is to habit, what perception is to recollection (11). Power is nothing but the privilege of getting itself obeyed, and public authority, like wealth, is very multiform (15). Distinguishing (a) indeterminate and (S) deter- minate authority, M. Tarde shows a certain insight into the facts of social control, though not to the extent of Professor Ross' analysis, of which more presently.

Another distinction, which the author regards as equally funda- mental, is that between internal and external power (17). We have inventories of public wealth, stock exchanges that give us the numeri- cal variations of its different sources. Why may we not hope to have someday good inventories of political power — political "bourses" ? It would be very difficult, but very desirable. If, with reliable sta- tistics, we could measure approximately the maximum or minimum of quantities of power incarnated in the English cabinet, or in the queen of England, or in the different sovereigns or ministers of Europe, America, and Asia, nothing would be more valuable for diplomats (18).

After these preliminary considerations there follow ten chapters upon the following subjects : "The Sources of Power;" "Invention and Power: Various Criticisms;" "Orders of Nobility;" "Capital Cities;" (Part II) "Amplifying Repetition ;" " Political Opposition," (a) "The Struggle of Parties," {b) "War and Diplomacy;" "The Laws of Political Transformations ; " " Political Art and Political Morality."

Throughout the book the work of Professor Ross in the series above referred to is repeatedly suggested. With Tarde the emphasis in the first part is on the genesis of political power rather than upon its statics, while with Ross the reverse is the case. Tarde's survey is