To examine the long-run origins of democracy and dictatorship, Brian Downing focuses on the importance of medieval political configurations and of military modernization in the early modern period. He maintains that in late medieval times an array of constitutional arrangements distinguished Western Europe from other parts of the world and predisposed it toward liberal democrac...(展开全部)

布莱恩·唐宁(Brain M .Downing)早年毕业于哈佛大学政治学系，师从著名历史比较研究学者斯考切波（Theda Sckopol）、鲁道夫（Lloyd Rudolph）和国际关系学者米尔斯海默（John Mearsheimer）。他的主要著作《军事革命与政治变革》考察了欧洲中世纪末期军事技术变革与民主和宪政制度起源之间的关系，获得了包括巴林顿·摩尔（Barrington Moore）在内的著名学者的好评，并夺得了美国政治学年会加布里埃尔·阿尔蒙德（Gabriel Almond）大奖。此后唐宁退出了学术圈，成为一名独立评论人，在美国多种主要媒体均有发言。

What explains the rapid growth of state power in early modern Europe? While most scholars have pointed to the impact of military or capitalist revolutions, Philip S. Gorski argues instead for the importance of a disciplinary revolution unleashed by the Reformation. By refining and diffusing a variety of disciplinary techniques and strategies, such as communal surveillance, cont...(展开全部)

What explains the rapid growth of state power in early modern Europe? While most scholars have pointed to the impact of military or capitalist revolutions, Philip S. Gorski argues instead for the importance of a disciplinary revolution unleashed by the Reformation. By refining and diffusing a variety of disciplinary techniques and strategies, such as communal surveillance, cont...(展开全部)

In the seventeenth century, previously peaceful relations between the Ottoman Empire and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth deteriorated into a series of military confrontations over the principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. Although scholars have generally interpreted this rivalry in terms of conflicting geopolitical interests, this state-centred approach ignores one of th...(展开全部)

What can the great crises of the past teach us about contemporary revolutions? Arguing from an exciting and original perspective, Goldstone suggests that great revolutions were the product of 'ecological crises' that occurred when inflexible political, economic, and social institutions were overwhelmed by the cumulative pressure of population growth on limited available resourc...(展开全部)

杰克·A.戈德斯通，乔治·梅森大学公共政策学院VirginiaE.andJohnT.HazelJr.讲座教授，曾因其学术名著《早期现代世界的革命与反抗》（加利福尼亚大学出版社1991年版）一书而获得美国社会学协会奖。

What can the great crises of the past teach us about contemporary revolutions? Arguing from an exciting and original perspective, Goldstone suggests that great revolutions were the product of 'ecological crises' that occurred when inflexible political, economic, and social institutions were overwhelmed by the cumulative pressure of population growth on limited available resourc...(展开全部)

约翰·亨利（John Henry），英国爱丁堡大学科学史荣休教授，主要研究文艺复兴时期至19世纪的科学史。著有《科学革命与现代科学的起源》《科学思想简史》等书。 杨俊杰，中国人民大学文学院文学博士，现任北京师范大学文学院比较文学与世界文学研究所副教授。主要研究兴趣是古希腊和德国的文学与思想。著有《艺术的危机与神话：谢林艺术哲学探微》（2011）等，译有[德]维尔纳·叔斯勒《蒂利希：生命的诠释者》（2011）等。

约翰·亨利（John Henry），英国爱丁堡大学科学史荣休教授，主要研究文艺复兴时期至19世纪的科学史。著有《科学革命与现代科学的起源》《科学思想简史》等书。 杨俊杰，中国人民大学文学院文学博士，现任北京师范大学文学院比较文学与世界文学研究所副教授。主要研究兴趣是古希腊和德国的文学与思想。著有《艺术的危机与神话：谢林艺术哲学探微》（2011）等，译有[德]维尔纳·叔斯勒《蒂利希：生命的诠释者》（2011）等。