The Political Institutions and Theories of the Hindus: A Study in Comparative Politics c7.s1.15

c7.s1.15

In order to understand the strength and limitations of Hindu politics it is essential, moreover, to realize that the historic state-systems of Europe have neither been long-lived nor built up on "*national*" principles such as are defined by Ratzel in his *Politische Geographie*. The classical institutions were notoriously ephemeral, and in the Middle Ages dynastic revolutions were plentiful. This discontinuity of political life was not the special feature of the imperial area alone. It affected all the provinces of Europe in the north, south, east, west and centre.