Describes and recounts the history, evolution and characteristics of the four main forms of government - Monarchy, Oligarchy, Democracy and Dictatorship and the transitions which occur between them.

Written by the Raffles Professor of History at the University of Malaya (Singapore) more than 50 years ago it gives an unusually universal perspective rather than the more normal Graeco- and Western-centric one. It debunks the preconception that Democracy is automatically the best form of government and appears almost prescient in its suggestion in the Epilogue that the future of the art of politics lies with India and China.