For more than two thousand years the government of China exhibited, in the main, the elements which characterized it when, in the reign of Ch'in Shih Huang Ti (221–209 B.C.), feudalism was abolished and a centralized system inaugurated. Through successive dynasties the changes introduced were in matters of detail. These facts admonish to unusual caution in the accepttance of the present system at its face value. “Republic,” “president,” “cabinet,” “parliament,” “courts,” “democracy,” —these are titles of Western institutions which continued to stand for the corresponding institutions in China when the latter were established upon the model of the former. Even in Western states the meaning of these terms varies, as does their application in actual government. It would be strange if a decade of republicanism in China had evolved a political organization which still remains largely an ideal among nations which have spent centuries of effort toward its attainment. New terms are applied more readily than old ways are altered. Different clothes may be a disguise, not a sure gauge of habitat or occupation. The more one strives to understand present political forces in China, the more is he driven to study the old régime.

The Unites States of America was the only country that came through the World War with its fundamental principles of government unchanged. War necessitates a powerful and, in a parliamentary sense, irresponsible executive. Wars cannot be won by deliberate assemblies nor by executives harassed by such assemblies. That great national emergencies call for a dictator—a powerful and politically irresponsible executive—the Romans discovered two thousand years ago, and we of the twentieth century have re-discovered. To win the war France set up a dictator, and his name was Georges Clémenceau : to win the war, Great Britain set up a dictator, and his name was Lloyd-George; to win the war the United States set up a dictator, and his name was Woodrow Wilson. To have attempted to carry on government under old parliamentary forms would have been ruinous, for warfare requires quick and decisive action—the very thing deliberative assemblies lack.

The proposition is submitted that a government based upon a separation of powers lends itself more readily to concentrated and politically irresponsible executive power than do other forms of government. The parliamentary system is essentially a union of powers. Its differentiating characteristic is an intimate relation between the executive and the legislative branches, a relation so intimate as to amount to union. The executive can at all times be questioned and criticised by the legislative, and can be brought to task for its political failures. That results in responsibility and responsiveness, two sound principles of government. But under the strain of war the parliamentary system of responsible government broke down.

It is impossible accurately to determine whether the more potent line of causation of the recent attack on the orthodox theory of the state is to be found in the field of the developing science of jurisprudence, or in that of practical experience, economic, religious, social, and political, inasmuch as both of these factors are so largely involved. There is reason to think, however, that the more important cause lies in the latter field. The conditions of modern life are changing so rapidly and are becoming daily so much more complex that to many the existing political organization no longer adequately expresses or reflects the social organization behind it. These individuals and groups have in consequence become so discontented with the present system that they have not been satisfied with suggesting new governmental forms and machinery, but failing in their enthusiasm to distinguish state from government, have undertaken in many cases to overthrow the very citadel of the state itself. Nor has the movement halted even at this point, for in this attempt not only has the attack been launched against the nature of the state and of sovereignty, through the calling into question of its two fundamental attributes, unity and absolutism, but the charge has been carried over into the realm of right as well, in the challenging of the right and the justification of the absolute sovereign state.

The appeal of the British government to the dominions for aid in defending the Dardanelles served to call attention once more to one of the most anomalous features of the constitution of the empire, namely the absence of a definite imperial policy in the matter of war and peace. On this most vital of all questions one would naturally expect to find at least some general understanding between the mother country and the dominions as to their respective rights and obligations. But such is not the case. The principles and practice of the constitution are hopelessly at variance.

I. English. The following summary of articles in the English journals is confined, in conformity with the review appearing in 1921, to discussions of governmental organization, structure, process, and procedure. The journals here included (1921–1922 inclusive) are The Edinburgh Review, Nineteenth Century, Contemporary Review, Fortnightly Review, Quarterly Review, Journal of Comparative Legislation, Round Table, and The Journal of Public Administration.