Tags
Summary
Editor's review
The book's value lies not only in its historical standing—it profoundly shaped the evolution of modern Western democracy—but also in its enduring relevance. Mill's vigilance against democracy's potential ills and his reflections on the interaction between civic competence and political institutions remain strikingly penetrating today. Reading this book, readers can move beyond simplistic understandings of democracy into a more complex and nuanced world of political philosophy. It offers not ready-made answers but a rigorous analytical framework for assessing the merits of any political system. For readers concerned with the nature of political operation, it is an indispensable intellectual training.
Who it's for
A good fit for
- Readers with a strong interest in political philosophy and democratic theory
- Learners seeking a deeper understanding of the origins and principles of Western representative democracy
- Professionals engaged in public administration, political science, or related research
- Readers who enjoy classic works of social science and seek intellectual depth
Not a good fit for
- Casual readers looking for light reading or novelistic plots
- Pragmatists expecting a hands-on manual of specific national political institutions
Reading tips
- It is advisable to first learn about nineteenth-century British history and Mill's life to understand his concerns
- Focus while reading on Mill's discussion of the criteria for 'good government' and how he balances democracy with competence
- Read alongside Rousseau's The Social Contract or Tocqueville's Democracy in America to trace the genealogy of democratic thought
About the publisher
The Commercial Press is a publisher known for classic works and academic publishing, with titles spanning Eastern philosophy, foreign literature, world history, social culture, and applied psychology. Its list includes classical commentaries such as Zhu Xi's Collected Commentaries on the Analects and Wang Bi's Commentary on the Zhouyi, as well as modern annotated translations like Zhuangzi with Modern Notes and Translation. In foreign literature it offers War and Peace and Crime and Punishment, while in world history it carries Braudel's The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II. Applied psychology is represented by Irvin D. Yalom's Existential Psychotherapy, and ethical texts include a Greek-Chinese-English edition of the Nicomachean Ethics. Its authors and translators include Zhu Xi, Wang Bi, Yalom, Braudel, and translators such as Huang Zheng, Zhang Yiling, Shen Dongyu, and Tang Jialong, balancing the editing of original texts with academic translation.
Contents
- 版权信息
- 汉译世界学术名著丛书（分科本）出版说明
- 译者前言
- 前言
- 第一章 政府的形式在多大程度上是个选择问题
- 第二章 好的政府形式的标准
- 第三章 理想上最好的政府形式是代议制政府
- 第四章 在何种社会条件下不能采用代议制政府
- 第五章 代议团体的应有职能
- 第六章 代议制政府容易有的弊病和危险
- 第七章 真正的和虚假的民主制；代表全体和仅仅代表多数
- 第八章 扩大选举权
- 第九章 应有两个选举阶段吗？
- 第十章 关于投票方法
- 第十一章 议会的期限
- 第十二章 应当要求议会议员作出保证吗？
- 第十三章 关于第二院
- 第十四章 代议制政府中的行政
- 第十五章 地方代表机关
- 第十六章 和代议制政府有关的民族问题
- 第十七章 联邦的代议制政府
- 第十八章 自由国家对附属国的统治
- 附录 译名对照表本表
FAQ
Is this book still relevant for understanding modern democratic politics?
Is this classic difficult to read?
What are the features of this Commercial Press edition?
Comments
Find this book
This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.
About the author
J. S. Mill was an important nineteenth-century British thinker whose writings span politics, economics, and philosophy. This library holds one of his works, Considerations on Representative Government, classified under politics. The book focuses on the organizing principles and operating conditions of representative government, analyzing the franchise, the functions of parliament, the expression of minority opinion, and the relationship between administration and legislation, and arguing for institutional arrangements that balance participation with the capacity to govern. Mill's writing is marked by close argument and clear structure; he typically defines concepts first and then compares the merits of different arrangements, in a cautious and persuasive tone. Considerations on Representative Government has had a lasting influence on later discussions of representative democracy and is an important text for understanding nineteenth-century liberal political thought. Because the available material is limited, biographical details are not elaborated here, and readers may grasp the basic orientation of his political views through the content of this work.
