IR-1

This is a good short overview of independent Italian city states in the 12th - 13th centuries, particularly their internal government and external politics. I thought the chapter on internal divisions was especially interesting, because it demonstrates how precarious this "republican" form of government was. In the concluding chapter the author states that the occasional survival of republicanism is actually more difficult to explain than the eventual triumph of large-scale monarchy. This book can be recommended to readers interested in renaissance history and early quasi-democratic government in Europe.

http://cscs.umich.edu/~crshalizi/weblog/algae-2010-01.html#waley ( )