This study suggested itself to the author when he noticed that such work as had been done on British attitudes to America fell into two main divisions: (a) studies, usually of American origin, of movements in the mass of British opinion; (b) studies of the radical and politically “nonconformist” elements in British political society. Both of these seemed to the author to be vitiated as contributions to the understanding of the various developments of Anglo-American relations, the former because the social structure of British political power does not weigh mass movements of opinion very highly, the latter because in the 61 years from 1895–1956, radical elements have controlled British foreign policy for a mere eight years and disputed control only for a further six.

Contemporary discussions of political forms exhibit a concern with constitutional procedures and values seldom encountered in the history of political thought. The search for a parallel development would require a turning to the classical period of Greek and Roman philosophy and politics. In the light of contemporary constitutional self-consciousness, as well as of the sustained inquiry of the ancient world into the various forms of polity, pure and degraded, ideal and historical, the political analyses of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries assume the character of politico-ideological crystallizations of the breakdown of the ancien regime. There are, of course, fundamental underlying differences between these three periods of political reflection. The ancient Greek analyses, although centering on Greek realities and problems, bear, prima facie, a style of detached theory intended to be taken as philosophy, no more, no less.

When President Soekamo of Indonesia on July 5, 1959, dissolved the Constituent Assembly and promulgated the reinstatement of the first Constitution (1945) discarded in 1950, he initiated a new revolution in Indonesia's modern history. This revolution will have far-reaching social and cultural consequences for the nation. The purpose of this paper is to focus upon some of the most significant social and cultural changes which have occurred in Indonesian society in recent years and in the wake of the eight-year development plan for 1961 to 1969.

On october 6, 1960, President Soekarno of Indonesia introduced members of his group of officials and leaders to President Eisenhower in Washington. Among them was Dipa N. Aidit, since 1954 Secretary General of the Communist Party of Indonesia (Partai Kommunis Indonesia; PKI). The confrontation was unique, ironic, and symbolic. It illustrated United States' efforts to accept Indonesia on its own terms of neutralism; it was an instance of Soekarno's ebullient self-assertion; it marked a milestone on the Indonesian Communist movement's road from a low point of failure in 1948 to its present successful role of a party with 2 million card-carrying members that can claim control over some 8 million individuals in various labor, students, women and other “front” organizations.

During Pitt's 1785 campaign for moderate parliamentary reform, William Wilberforce supported the government primarily on a moral basis rather than on political grounds. He explained his reasons to a friend, Lord Muncaster, as follows:

It is not the confusion of parties, and their quarreling and battling in the House of Commons, which makes me despair of the republic … it is the universal corruption and profligacy of the times, which taking its rise amongst the rich and luxurious has now extended its baneful influence and spread its destructive poison through the whole body of the people.