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the CHALLENGE
of POLITICS
SAGE was founded in 1965 by Sara Miller McCune to support
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Los Angeles | London | New Delhi | Singapore | Washington DC

 the CHALLENGE
of POLITICS
EDITION     AN INTRODUCTION TO POLITICAL SCIENCE

5
NEAL RIEMER
Drew University

DOUGLAS W. SIMON
Drew University

JOSEPH ROMANCE
Fort Hays State University
FOR INFORMATION: Copyright  2015 by CQ Press, an Imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc.
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The challenge of politics: an introduction to political science / Neal
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BRIEF CONTENTS

Tables, Figures, Boxes, and Maps xvi

About the Authors xviii
Acknowledgments xix
Preface xx

Introduction 1

PART I. RULES OF THE GAME 7

CHAPTER 1 • Games Politicans Play 11

CHAPTER 2 • Politics and Choice 33

CHAPTER 3 • P
 olitical Science: Components, Tasks,
and Controversies 65

CHAPTER 4 • The Physical, Social, and Cultural

Environment of Politics 91

PART II. POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY AND IDEOLOGY 121

CHAPTER 5 • The Quest for the Good Political Life 123

CHAPTER 6 • Liberal Democracy 147

CHAPTER 7 • Democratic Socialism and Communism:

Ideologies of the Left 173

PART III. AMERICAN, COMPARATIVE, AND WORLD POLITICS 201

CHAPTER 8 • Key Dilemmas: Political Form, Culture,

and Values 203

CHAPTER 9 • American Politics and Government 241

CHAPTER 10 • Comparative Politics 273

CHAPTER 11 • International Politics and the Global

Community 297
PART IV. POLITICAL JUDGMENT AND PUBLIC POLICY 327

CHAPTER 12 • W
 ar and Peace in the Modern Age 331

CHAPTER 13 • The Battle on Behalf of Human Rights 357

CHAPTER 14 • The Struggle for Economic Well-Being 387

CHAPTER 15 • The Imperative of Ecological Health 415

Conclusion 441

Notes 448
Glossary 462
Index 473
DETAILED CONTENTS

Tables, Figures, Boxes, and Maps xvi

About the Authors xviii
Acknowledgments xix
Preface xx

Introduction 1
Political Values 2
A Science of Politics 3
Political Wisdom 3
The Future of Politics and Political Science 4

PART I. RULES OF THE GAME 7

CHAPTER 1 • Games Politicans Play 11

The Game of Politics 11
Elements of the Game 12
The Destruction-Accommodation-Conversion Continuum 13
Wipeout: The Politics of Destruction 16
Athens and Melos 16
Relevance to Modern Politics 18
Lion and Fox: The Politics of the Nation-State 20
Machiavelli: The End Justifies the Means 21
Relevance to Modern Politics 23
Civil Disobedience: The Politics of Morality 25
Thoreau: “On Civil Disobedience” 25
Relevance to Modern Politics 27
Conclusion 28
Suggested Readings 29
Glossary Terms 31

CHAPTER 2 • Politics and Choice 33

Five Important Themes 33
Elaborating the Theme 35
Values, Facts, and Judgment 36
Socrates and the Moral Life: Political Obligation in Ancient Athens 37
Socrates’s Choice 37
Questioning Socrates’s Choice 39
Madison, the New Republic, and Federal Theory: The Struggle
for a Creative Breakthrough in Modern Politics 41
 The Problem, Reconciling Liberty and Authority 41
Madison’s Solution 43
Continuing Efforts to Reconcile Liberty and Authority 45
The German Citizen and the Nazi Regime: Can Modern Citizens
Bear the Burden of Freedom? 46
The Situation in Germany 47
Lessons of the Nazi Experience 49
John F. Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis: The Perils of
Choice in the Nuclear Age 50
Considering the Alternatives 51
Making the Choice 53
The Decision to Invade Iraq: The Perils of Inaccurate Information
and Faulty Assumptions 55
Historical Context 56
Rationales for the 2003 Invasion 57
What Went Wrong? 58
Conclusion 60
Suggested Readings 61
Glossary Terms 62

CHAPTER 3 • Political Science: Components, Tasks,

and Controversies 65
The Basic Structure of Political Science 65
The Three Major Components of Political Science 67
The Ethical Component 68
The Empirical Component 69
The Prudential Component 69
The Four Major Tasks of Political Science 70
Ethical Recommendation 70
Empirical Understanding 72
Prudential Judgment 73
Theoretical Integration 74
Continuing Controversies in Political Science 77
The Quest for the Good Political Life 78
The Search for a Science of Politics 79
Guidance for Leaders of State and Citizens 84
Toward a Unified Discipline of Political Science 85
Conclusion 86
Suggested Readings 87
Glossary Terms 88

CHAPTER 4 • The Physical, Social, and Cultural

Environment of Politics 91
Propositions and Challenges 91
The Physical World We Live In 94
 Patterns of Population Growth 94
Finite Resources 97
The Biological, Physiological, Psychological, and Social
Creatures We Are 100
Human Needs 100
Cooperation Versus Conflict 101
The Social Communities We Have Built 102
The Sociopsychological Setting of Politics 103
The Economic Environment of Politics 104
The Sociological Setting of Politics 106
The Scientific and Technological Environment of Politics 111
The Historical Setting of Politics 113
The Cultural Universe We Have Created 115
The Culture of the Enlightenment 116
Striking a Cultural Balance 116
Conclusion 118
Suggested Readings 119
Glossary Terms 120

PART II. POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY AND IDEOLOGY 121

CHAPTER 5 • The Quest for the Good Political Life 123

Classical Greek Thought: The Search for Political Excellence 123
Plato: Justice as the Harmony of Classes and Rule
by Philosopher-Kings 124
Aristotle: Constitutional Government and Rule
by the Middle Class 125
Christianity and the Good Political Life 127
Augustine: Incomplete Worldly Peace, Order, and Justice 127
Thomas Aquinas: Constitution, Law, Common Good,
and Reason 129
The Renaissance: Niccolò Machiavelli and the Quest
for a Virtuous Republic 131
Modern Political Thought 133
Thomas Hobbes: The Need for a Supreme Sovereign Leader 133
John Locke: Popular, Limited, Responsible, Representative
Government 135
Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Popular Sovereignty through
the General Will 136
Edmund Burke: Prescriptive Constitutional Government 137
John Stuart Mill: Utilitarianism and Liberty 139
Karl Marx: Universal Human Emancipation via
Communism 141
Contemporary Political Philosophy 142
Conclusion 143
 Suggested Readings 144
Glossary Terms 145

CHAPTER 6 • Liberal Democracy 147

Toward a Definition of Liberal Democracy 148
The Ideals of Liberal Democracy 149
Operative Ideals 149
The Sources of Liberal Democracy 153
Liberalism, Capitalism, and Democracy 156
The Changing Character of Liberalism 158
The Changing Character of Democracy 158
Variations on the Liberal Democratic Theme 159
American Liberals 160
American Conservatives 161
An Assessment of Liberal Democracy 162
The Defense of Liberal Democracy 162
A Contemporary Challenge to Liberal Democracy:
Security Versus Liberty 163
The Attack on Liberal Democracy: Left and Right 165
Conclusion 168
Suggested Readings 169
Glossary Terms 170

CHAPTER 7 • Democratic Socialism and Communism:

Ideologies of the Left 173
Democratic Socialism 174
Toward a Definition of Democratic Socialism 174
The Ideals of Democratic Socialism 175
The Sources of Democratic Socialism 176
Religious Roots 177
Utopian Roots 178
Marxist Roots 179
Revisionist Roots 179
Fabian Roots 180
Trade Union Roots 181
Reformist Roots 181
Democratic Socialism as Political Ideology: Pro and Con 182
Criticism of Democratic Socialism 182
The Defense of Democratic Socialism 182
Communism 183
Toward a Definition of Communism 183
The Ideals of Communism 184
The Sources of Communism 186
Karl Marx: Master Theoretician 186
 V. I. Lenin: Master Revolutionary Strategist and Tactician 187
Joseph Stalin: Master Builder of Soviet Power 189
Mao Zedong: Founder of Chinese Communism 190
Communism as a Political Ideology and Philosophy: Pro and Con 191
Criticism of Communism 191
The Defense of Communism 193
The Recent Past and Future of Democratic Socialism and Communism 194
Democratic Socialism 194
Communism 195
Conclusion 197
Suggested Readings 198
Glossary Terms 199

PART III. AMERICAN, COMPARATIVE, AND WORLD POLITICS 201

CHAPTER 8 • Key Dilemmas: Political Form, Culture,

and Values 203
Some Key Terms Defined 204
Patterns for Cooperation, Accommodation, and
Conflict Resolution 206
Democratic Constitutionalism 207
Political Culture and the Framing of Politics 207
Why Is Political Culture Important? 208
Agreement on the Fundamentals of Political Culture 209
Constitutional Features 211
Limited or Unlimited Government 212
Representative Government or Direct Democracy 212
Separation or Connection of Powers 213
Federalism or Unitary Government 215
Majority Rule 217
The Values of Nations as Political Actors 219
Security and Peace 220
Liberty, Human Rights, and Democracy 222
Justice, Equality, and Liberty 228
Welfare and Economic Well-Being 230
Popular Values 230
Conclusion 237
Suggested Readings 237
Glossary Terms 238

CHAPTER 9 • American Politics and Government 241

American Political Culture 242
American Political Culture and the Factors That Shaped It 242
American Political Institutions 245
 Legislatures 246
Executives 249
Bureaucracies 255
The Courts 256
Beyond the Constitution: Citizens, Media, Parties, and Elections 260
Citizens 260
Interest Groups 261
Political Parties and Elections 263
The Media 267
Conclusion 268
Suggested Readings 269
Glossary Terms 270

CHAPTER 10 • Comparative Politics 273

Parliamentary Government 274
The Case of Great Britain 275
Authoritarian Government 280
The Case of Nazi Germany 284
Mixed Political Systems 286
The Case of Communist China 286
Failed or Fragile States 290
The Cases of Zimbabwe and Somalia 291
Conclusion 293
Suggested Readings 294
Glossary Terms 295

CHAPTER 11 • International Politics and the Global

Community 297
Post–World War II and Post–Cold War Challenges 297
Current Patterns in International Politics 299
The Standard of National Interest 299
The Primary Role of Power 300
Balance of Power 301
The Cold War Balance of Power 302
Assessing the Cold War 303
The Costs and Aftermath of the Cold War 305
Domination 306
Multilateralism 307
The United Nations in Theory and Practice 308
Regional Integration 315
Globalization 317
Other Forms of Behavior: Neutrality, Nonalignment, and Isolation 319
 Nonstate Actors 320
Nongovernmental Organizations 320
Terrorist Organizations 321
The Case of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria 321
Multinational Corporations 322
Conclusion 323
Suggested Readings 324
Glossary Terms 325

PART IV. POLITICAL JUDGMENT AND PUBLIC POLICY 327

CHAPTER 12 • W
 ar and Peace in the Modern Age 331
Ethical and Empirical Factors 332
The Mortal Threat of Nuclear War 332
The Consequences of Conventional Wars 334
The Burden of Arms Expenditures 338
The Dangers of the Sovereign Nation-State System 338
The Battle against Terrorism 340
Alternative Approaches to a More Peaceful World 341
A New Balance of Power 341
UN Third-Party Activities 343
Collective Security 345
Global Economic Integration 346
Peace through Functionalism 347
Nonviolent Civil Defense 350
Conclusion 352
Suggested Readings 353
Glossary Terms 354

CHAPTER 13 • The Battle on Behalf of Human Rights 357

Clarifying the Problem 358
Ethical and Empirical Factors 359
Genocide 360
The Persistence of Racism 363
Left-Wing and Right-Wing Violations 364
Offenses against Women 368
Alternative Approaches to Securing Human Rights 370
Efforts of Powerful States 370
The United Nations 375
Nongovernmental Organizations 379
Efforts of the Least Free 381
Conclusion 383
 Suggested Readings 384
Glossary Terms 385

CHAPTER 14 • The Struggle for Economic Well-Being 387

Defining Economic Well-Being 388
Ethical and Empirical Factors 389
The Persistence of Poverty 389
The Causes and Consequences of Poverty 393
The Question of Economic Inequality 394
The Calculus of Costs and Benefits 395
Alternative Approaches to Economic Well-Being 396
Liberal Capitalism and Liberal Democracy 396
Egalitarian Communism 399
Illiberal Capitalism and Right-Wing Authoritarianism 402
Democratic Socialism 404
The Critical Role of the International Community 406
International Organizations 406
Nongovernmental Organizations 409
State-Based Foreign Aid Programs 410
Conclusion 410
Suggested Readings 412
Glossary Terms 413

CHAPTER 15 • The Imperative of Ecological Health 415

Ethical and Empirical Factors 416
Depletion of the Ozone Layer 417
Global Warming 418
Pollution 422
Depletion of Valuable Resources 422
Climate Change, Scarce Resources, and Armed Conflict 425
The Danger of Population Imbalance 425
The Challenges of Ecological Politics 427
Alternative Approaches to Ecological Health 427
Liberal Conservation 428
Guarded Optimism and Economic Growth 429
A Sustainable Development Model 432
A Steady-State Philosophy 434
Benevolent Authoritarianism 437
Conclusion 438
Suggested Readings 439
Glossary Terms 440
Conclusion 441
A Best-Case Scenario 442
A Worst-Case Scenario 443
A Prophetic Planetary Scenario 445
Suggested Readings 446

Notes 448
Glossary 462
Index 473
 TABLES, FIGURES,
BOXES, AND MAPS

Tables
Table 3.1: Three Major Components of Political Science 68
Table 3.2: Interrelationship of the Three Major Components of Political
Science 74
Table 4.1: World Population Distribution and Projections (in millions) 96
Table 4.2: Population per Square Mile, 2014 97
Table 4.3: Leading Producers of Major Resources, 2011
(in order left to right) 99
Table 4.4: The Development Gap: Developing and Developed Nations,
2014 105
Table 4.5: Urbanization in the Developing World (in millions) 106
Table 5.1: Aristotle’s Classification of Governments 126
Table 8.1: Countries Rated by Degree of Freedom, 2015 223
Table 8.2: Income Concentrated in the Wealthiest 10 Percent of Population,
2010–2012 229
Table 8.3: Wide Partisan Differences on Many Issues 233
Table 9.1: Classification of Interest Groups 261
Table 13.1: Jews Killed in the Holocaust 361
Table 14.1: Comparison of Poor and Affluent Countries, 2014 390
Table 14.2: Comparative Unemployment in Developed and
Developing Countries, 2015 392
(estimates in percentages and countries in rank order of development)
Table 15.1: Hunger in Developing Countries, 1995–2011 426

Figures
Figure 1.1: The Destruction-Accommodation-Conversion Continuum 14
Figure 4.1: Ten Centuries of World Population Growth 95
Figure 8.1: Public Preferences for Increasing and Decreasing Spending 232
Figure 8.2: The Surge in Independent Self-Identification 234
Figure 9.1: U.S. Federal System (simplified) 246
Figure 9.2: How a Bill Becomes a Law (simplified) 248
Figure 11.1: International Power Distribution Systems 302
Figure 11.2: Values and Shares of Merchandise Exports and Imports,
1948–2013 318

xvi
Figure 12.1: Deployed Strategic Nuclear Warheads 333
Figure 14.1: Concentration of Poor in Developing Regions 2014 (percent of each
region’s population living on $1.25 per day) 391
Figure 15.1: Average Global Temperatures in Celsius by Decade, 1880–2000s 420
Figure 15.2 Venn Diagram Illustrating Sustainable Development Model 434

Boxes
Box 9.1: U.S. President’s Multiple Roles 251
Box 11.1: Basic Organization of the United Nations 309
Box 11.2: United Nations Peacekeeping Missions 312
Box 11.3: Specialized Agencies of the United Nations 314

Maps
Map 1.1: Ancient Greece 17
Map 9.1: Alexis de Tocqueville’s Journeys in America 244
Map 9.2: U.S. Presidential Election, 2000 266
Map 9.3: U.S. Presidential Election, 2012 267
Map 11.1: European Union, 2015 316
Map 12.1: Areas of Ongoing Conflicts, 2014 336

Tables, Figures, Boxes, and Maps xvii

 ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Neal Riemer was the Andrew V. Stout Professor of Political

Philosophy at Drew University. After receiving a PhD from Harvard
University, he taught at the Pennsylvania State University, the
University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, University of Innsbruck (in
Austria), and Drew University. His books include Problems of American
Government (editor); World Affairs: Problems and Prospects (coauthor);
The Revival of Democratic Theory; The Democratic Experiment; The
Future of the Democratic Revolution: Toward a More Prophetic Politics;
New Thinking and Developments in International Politics: Opportunities and Dangers
(editor/coauthor); Karl Marx and Prophetic Politics; James Madison: Creating the American
Constitution; Creative Breakthroughs in Politics; Let Justice Roll: Prophetic Challenges in
Religion, Politics, and Society (editor/coauthor); and Protection Against Genocide: Mission
Impossible (editor).

Douglas W. Simon is emeritus professor of political science at Drew

University, where he specialized in international affairs, U.S. foreign
policy, international organization, and national security. After receiving
a BA from Willamette University, he served as an officer in U.S. air
force intelligence, including a tour in Vietnam. Following his military
service he earned a PhD at the University of Oregon. After arriving
at Drew, he directed the university’s Semester on the United Nations
for fifteen years, served as convener of Drew’s Masters in International
Affairs Program, and later was department chair. In addition to The Challenge of Politics,
he is coauthor of New Thinking and Developments in International Politics: Opportunities and
Dangers and has contributed to such publications as the Harvard Journal of World Affairs,
East Asian Survey, Comparative Political Studies, International Studies Notes, Teaching Political
Science, and Society.

Joseph Romance is associate professor of political science at Fort

Hays State University, teaching in the fields of American politics
and political theory. He received a BA from the College of William
and Mary and a PhD from Rutgers University. He is coauthor, with
Theodore Lowi and Gerald Pomper, of A Republic of Parties: Debating
the Two Party System; coauthor of and contributor to Democracy and
Excellence: Conflict or Concord?; and coeditor of Democracy’s Literature.
His articles and reviews have appeared in a number of journals,
including American Review of Politics, The Responsive Community, Perspectives on Political
Science, and Newsday. He has also contributed pieces to a number of edited volumes,
including Progressive Politics in the Global Age and Friends and Citizens. He currently is
working on a book about political foundings.

xviii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

For five editions of The Challenge of Politics we have worked with an incredible staff at
CQ Press/SAGE. This latest effort was once again a wonderful experience. We are
very grateful for the excellent support we received. The process of producing a new
edition of a large textbook requires a lot of work, creativity, patience, and efficient
communication in order to make a complex process run smoothly. Our sincerest
thanks go out to the entire staff at CQ Press/SAGE, particularly Sarah Calabi,
acquisitions editor; Libby Larson, production editor; Megan Markanich, copy editor;
and Natalie Konopinski, associate editor, who has shepherded this project from the
outset.

xix
 PREFACE

In this fifth edition of The Challenge of Politics we again advance a vision of political
science that is sweeping in scope and integrative in nature. We believe that politics
should be concerned with the creation of a humane, civilized society. For that reason,
students of politics must not only work diligently to determine empirically what is and
why but they must also make judgments as to which political systems and processes are
most efficient and most humane.

We do not believe in a sharp distinction between classical and empirical theory in the
pursuit of these goals. Instead, we strongly affirm students’ need to appreciate the
wisdom of classical theory as they address timeless questions: What is the good life?
What is freedom? What is justice? When should citizens disobey their government?
How do we balance individual rights and the broader interests of society? Throughout
the text we constantly return to these and other fundamental questions.

We also welcome contemporary methods of investigating politics. For example, the

ability to analyze data about what citizens and political actors think and do brings
new dimension and depth to our understanding of what the good life is. Put simply,
classical theory and the scientific method are never at war in this text. Knowing Plato’s
conception of the ideal just state, for example, illuminates the kinds of political choices
we make today as we think about war, economic efficiency and fairness, and the
dangers of global pollution.

Further evidence of our desire to offer an integrative concept of political science is

our belief that the four traditional fields of the discipline—political theory, American
government, comparative politics, and international relations—can, and should,
inform each other. When political science is taught in a compartmentalized fashion,
as it frequently is, students may have difficulty seeing how the discipline’s subfields
interact as a whole. For example, controversies in American political parties can seem
completely unrelated to the balance of power in international relations. Because we
want students to see the whole of the political world, we focus on what constitutes a
just and well-governed society. Students are motivated to see linkages between how
governments work, how states interact, and how the great theorists of politics have
shaped and influenced political actors.

This text puts forth the idea that all politics is about certain fundamental concepts.
What are the political values that encourage a good political life? Can we develop a
science of politics to help us understand the empirical realities of politics? Can we
bring a high level of political prudence and wisdom to bear on public issues? Can we
creatively address the future of politics? These are the concerns that form the bridges
between the subfields of the discipline in The Challenge of Politics.

xx
As we lead students to explore these questions, we remind them that politics is
emphatically about choice and thinking about the possible. We give them the ability to
make informed judgments about some of the most compelling public policy issues of our
time: poverty, war and peace, human rights, and environmental degradation. In this way,
we invite students to think about the future. How might a more just and civilized society
come about? Can students of politics use their knowledge, reason, and innovation to
develop creative breakthroughs in the way we govern ourselves as human beings?

ORGANIZATION
The Challenge of Politics is divided into four parts linked together by several common
themes: political values, the science of politics, political wisdom, and the future of
politics and political science.

Part I, Rules of the Game, introduces students to the field of political science by
focusing on the kinds of choices political actors make. We use this approach because
the element of choice is at the heart of politics and because we believe it is the most
exciting way to engage students at the beginning. What is more compelling than to
discover how renowned political figures as well as common people wrestled with
profound political dilemmas, the resolutions of which determined how people would
ultimately be governed or whether people lived or died? The chapters in Part I also
examine the tasks of political science and ask the critical question, how scientific can
political science be? Chapter 4 explores the physical, social, and cultural environments
in which politics takes place, highlighting the crucial fact that politics never occurs in a
vacuum. One new item in this chapter is a far more extensive discussion of the role of
social media in the world of politics.

Part II, Political Philosophy and Ideology, explores the world of political philosophy
and ideology. We give considerable attention to classical theory and the manner in
which it illuminates our fundamental understanding of politics and the search for
justice. In addition, we examine a number of modern ideologies, including liberal
democracy, communism, and democratic socialism. Examining these various forms
of governance invites students to think about which values and ideas should take
precedence over others. Is equality more important than freedom? Is democracy a
better system than monarchy?

Part III, American, Comparative, and World Politics, examines political values and
the problems that arise because of the gap between professed values and the actual
behavior of political actors. This section is also concerned with the institutional context
in which politics occurs. Chapter 8 provides a discussion of some basic concepts of
politics and governance. In a new feature of the book, Chapter 9 is devoted exclusively
to American politics and government. Chapter 10 focuses on comparative politics. The
importance of the aspects of politics reflected in these chapters—culture, constitutions,
citizens, governmental actors—is, in our judgment, obvious. Tough political choices are

Preface xxi
 shaped not merely by ideas but by the characteristics of the institutions of governance.
How adequate and effective are these institutions of governance in seeking a just and
humane society? Do they contribute to the political health of communities or to a
more peaceful world? These are central questions that the student of politics must
address. We assist this study by exploring the domestic political systems of a variety of
countries, including discussions of their constitutions, voters, interest groups, political
parties, media, legislatures, executives, bureaucracies, and courts. Later in the section,
in Chapter 11, we devote attention to the world of international politics. In this fifth
edition, in addition to the new chapter on American government, we have included
new material on several developments including the gridlock gripping Congress, the
rise of overtly partisan news outlets such as FOX and MSNBC, and the addition of
Somalia as an example of a failed or fragile state.

Part IV, Political Judgment and Public Policy, invites students to apply the tools of the
discipline to four critical public policy areas: war and peace, human rights, economic
welfare, and the environment. We present a variety of approaches for dealing with
these concerns. Some thought is devoted to considering which approaches offer the
best opportunity for solving the most intractable policy problems. The chapters on
public policy encourage students to articulate their own ethical values; to present
and assess significant empirical findings relevant to the problems; and to balance
ethical, empirical, and prudential concerns to reach sensible political judgments on
important current problems. These chapters invite students to develop their own
creative breakthroughs to solve these problems. In addition, Part IV is specifically
designed to give instructors flexibility in the way they use the book. Each of the four
policy chapters stands on its own; instructors can choose to have students read all four
chapters or to assign chapters individually. In this section new and updated information
is provided on a number of subjects including the ongoing negotiations over Iran’s
nuclear program; the civil war in Syria; international slavery and human trafficking;
the revelations by Edward Snowden concerning National Security Agency (NSA)
surveillance programs; violation of women’s rights; work of the International Criminal
Court (ICC); economic inequality both international and domestic; additional
scientific evidence of global warming; the December 2014 climate change conference;
the issue of safe water as a valuable resource; and the relationship between climate
change, scarce resources, and armed conflict.

PEDAGOGY
We designed The Challenge of Politics to engage students’ interest. Throughout this
fifth edition students will find updated tables and graphs containing up-to-the-minute
data, as well as conceptual figures and maps that enhance the text. A wide array of
photographs with substantive captions are incorporated throughout the text. In
addition to traditional news and scenic photographs, we took considerable care to

xxii THE CHALLENGE OF POLITICS: AN INTRODUCTION TO POLITICAL SCIENCE

find photographs and portraits of important political theorists and personalities. For
many students, Plato, Machiavelli, Madison, Mill, Thoreau, and Marx are abstractions,
merely names on a page. By presenting these images we hope that these figures will
come alive.

Another feature of the book is the presentation of Chapter Objectives as well as Key
Questions at the beginning of most chapters with an icon in the margins highlighting
their importance. These questions are intended to get students thinking about some
of the critical issues raised in each part of the book. Other features include end-of-
chapter suggested readings—a mixture of contemporary and classical works—and lists
of key terms. These terms, highlighted throughout the text, are defined in an extensive
glossary at the end of the book.

In addition to these text features, the fifth edition of The Challenge of Politics is
accompanied by SAGE edge.

edge.sagepub.com/riemer5e

SAGE edge offers a robust online environment featuring an impressive array of tools
and resources for review, study, and further exploration, keeping both instructors and
students on the cutting edge of teaching and learning.

SAGE edge for Students provides a personalized approach to help students

accomplish their coursework goals in an easy-to-use learning environment.

•• Mobile-friendly eFlashcards and quizzes strengthen

understanding of key terms and concepts

•• A complete online action plan includes tips and feedback on

progress through the course and materials, which allows students
to individualize their learning experience

•• Chapter summaries with learning objectives reinforce the

most important material

•• Web resources appeal to students with different learning styles

SAGE edge for Instructors supports teaching by making it easy to integrate quality
content and create a rich learning environment for students.

Preface xxiii
 •• Test banks provide a diverse range of pre-written options
as well as the opportunity to edit any question and/or insert
personalized questions to effectively assess students’ progress
and understanding

•• Sample course syllabi for semester and quarter courses provide

suggested models for structuring one’s course

•• Editable, chapter-specific PowerPoint® slides offer complete

flexibility for creating a multimedia presentation for the course

•• Web resources appeal to students with different learning styles

•• All graphics from the text for class presentations

Our hope is that after reading The Challenge of Politics students will have gained a
greater understanding and appreciation of the political world and perhaps even be
inspired to become active participants on the political stage themselves.

xxiv THE CHALLENGE OF POLITICS: AN INTRODUCTION TO POLITICAL SCIENCE

INTRODUCTION

In The Challenge of Politics we seek to introduce you to the intriguing discipline of

political science. We strongly believe that our unique and comprehensive approach
can best equip you, the student of political science, to stay abreast of the ever-
changing, challenging world of politics, a world now in the early years of the twenty-
first century. This is a world in which the paramount issues of peace/war, human
rights/tyranny, prosperity/poverty, and ecological balance/malaise continue to
dominate the political agenda.

In the few years since the last edition of this book, major changes and challenges have
demanded the attention of students of political science. Through the years 2013 and
2014, the United States slowly began to pull itself out of the crushing recession of
2008, and by 2015 the Dow Jones Industrial Average had tripled from its low point
in the crisis. Unemployment, which had soared into the double figures, by 2015 had
fallen below levels before the crash occurred. The American Congress continued to
experience high degrees of gridlock, flirting with government shutdown several times.
To a great degree, conflict between the Democratic president and the Republican-
controlled legislature defined American politics during this period of time. The Arab
Spring that had generated cautious hope in 2011 and 2012 began to fade as countries
either plunged into chaos or experienced a reassertion of authoritarian rule. Only
Tunisia seemed bound for some meaningful democratic reform. Pope Benedict XVI
announced his resignation, the first pontiff to resign since 1415. In March of 2014
he was replaced by Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, taking the papal name Pope
Francis. He almost immediately set the Catholic Church off in some seemingly
new areas of emphasis and direction, particularly in dealing with the poor and in
encouraging higher levels of tolerance. Throughout the years 2013 through 2015 the
terrorist groups Boko Haram and Al-Shabaab stepped up their reign of terror from
West to East Africa, and out of the death and destruction of the Syrian civil war, ISIS
(the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) emerged. It is a Sunni-based group whose aim
is to establish a caliphate encompassing all of the Muslim World. ISIS is extremely
conservative, and its methods are brutal, particularly against nonbelievers. The year
2013 also saw the election of Hassan Rouhani as president of Iran. He is considered
somewhat of a moderate, raising hopes that negotiations over the disposition of the
Iranian nuclear program might make some meaningful progress. In 2014 Russian
forces seized the Crimean Peninsula of Ukraine and its strategic port of Sebastopol.
This has dramatically increased the levels of tension between the Europeans and
the United States and Vladimir Putin’s Russia. While the American public’s focus on
global warming seemed to have lessened in recent years, scientific evidence continued
to mount that climate change remains a serious problem that needs to be addressed.
These changes and challenges require us to ponder some major issues: the nature of

1
 leadership in the United States as well as in other parts of the world, the persistence
of war as part of the human condition, and the difficulties in establishing peace. In
addition we note large pockets of poverty persist in several regions. Human rights are
still violated with impunity in far too many countries, and ecological balance remains a
critical problem for our “spaceship earth.”

As we seek to keep abreast of these developments, we need to keep our eyes focused
on four key questions. These questions highlight the analytical framework of our
unique and comprehensive approach to the study of politics and political science.
These questions are difficult because vigorous debate still rages about the meaning
of the good political life; about the very possibility of a science of politics; about the
likelihood of making wise judgments; about the
difficulties of linking the ethical, social scientific,
KEY QUESTIONS and prudential concerns of political science; and
about the future of politics. Despite the difficulty
1. Can we as citizens and students
of the questions, asking them enables students
articulate and defend a view of the
of politics to explore political philosophy and
good political life and its guiding
political values?
ideology; major forms of government; and
key public policy issues involving peace and
2. Can we develop a science of politics war, prosperity and poverty, human rights and
to help us understand significant wrongs, and ecological balance and malaise. Why
political phenomena—the empirical is that important? It is important because these
realities of politics? are the critical belief systems and policy issues
3. Can we bring a high level of political
that directly affect people’s lives—the way we
prudence or wisdom to bear on choose our leaders, the way we govern ourselves,
judgments about politics and public and the way we treat each other as human beings
issues? inside and outside our country. We welcome the
challenges of exploring these systems and issues
4. Can citizens and students creatively and hope that our approach will contribute to
address the future of politics? enlightened dialogue and creative debate.

POLITICAL VALUES
Addressing the first question of our framework, that of political values, we reaffirm
our normative preference for politics as a civilizing enterprise, one that enables people
in the political community to live better, to grow robustly in mind and spirit, and to
find creative fulfillment. This normative preference has guided our choice of topics in
this book. The theme of politics as a civilizing enterprise has also provided a standard
for exploring the meaning of political health, a metaphor for the political community
that is able to secure peace, protect human rights, enhance economic prosperity, and
advance ecological balance—and thus facilitate creative individual realization within
the framework of the common good.

2 THE CHALLENGE OF POLITICS: AN INTRODUCTION TO POLITICAL SCIENCE

To hold this perspective, however, does not mean ignoring the ugly fact that politics
often is not a civilizing enterprise, that politics is sometimes a dirty and unpleasant
business. Truth, honor, and decency are sometimes casualties in the world of politics.
Appreciating the realities of politics clearly requires a keen understanding of war as
well as peace, tyranny as well as freedom, injustice as well as justice, poverty as well as
prosperity, ecological malaise as well as ecological well-being. Put simply, it remains
important to see—and to seek to achieve—politics at its best, as well as to recognize
how it can degenerate and function at its worst.

A SCIENCE OF POLITICS
The science of politics compels us to determine, as accurately and truthfully as
possible, the objective reality of what goes on in the political arena. Students of
politics are faced with the task of accurately assessing and understanding past, present,
and emerging political realities. Understanding changing realms of domestic and
international politics is an important, and often neglected, task.

Keeping abreast of the changing and challenging nature of politics is clearly an

imperative of a realistic political science. However, change is not always unique or
singular. Political science recognizes the enduring realities of the struggle for power.
Current developments and contemporary changes are always best understood in the light
of those enduring ethical, empirical, and prudential realities. It is also most important to
appreciate that changes may pose dangers to be avoided as well as opportunities to be
seized. Changes may, unpredictably, usher in the “best of times” or the “worst of times.”

Strikingly, the changes and challenges outlined in this book all relate to the political values
of peace, freedom, economic well-being, and ecological balance, and thus offer a way to
link events across eras and regions, from the domestic realm to the international realm.

POLITICAL WISDOM
Political actors, as they seek to advance their values in the light of the realities of
politics, will need to exercise wise political judgment as they respond to the striking
changes that have taken place in recent years. The challenge of politics calls upon
students and citizens to make wise decisions based on a combination of factors:
thorough knowledge, deep understanding, rational thought, and a sense of compassion.
Wisdom must be brought to bear in responding to the different character of the
rivalries between the world’s major powers since the end of the Cold War; to the
ongoing problems of liberal democracies; to the continuing plight of many developing
countries; and to a host of other challenging political, economic, religious, scientific,
and environmental developments.

Introduction 3
 THE FUTURE OF POLITICS
AND POLITICAL SCIENCE
Attention to the preceding features of The Challenge of Politics—political values, the
science of politics, and political wisdom—helps one attend to the future. Here we
have in mind not only the immediate future but the long-range future as well. In the
prophetic tradition we must carefully scrutinize the future as well as the past and
the present. Political scientists need to project forward, to scenarios both positive
and negative, in order to critically assess what lies ahead in politics. Here students of
political science are challenged to explore the future imaginatively. Consequently, we
encourage you to use the analytical framework of the text to (1) probe the future of
political values more clearly, fully, and critically; (2) seek to grasp the emerging realities
of politics more incisively, keenly, and astutely; and (3) weigh the costs and benefits of
alternative judgments, policies, and actions more prudently, humanely, and practically
in order to reach wise decisions.

In seeking to advance the critical exploration of the book’s cardinal questions, we

will explore in each part a key organizing question. In Part I—Rules of the Game,
which serves as our introduction to the field and study of political science—we ask
this question: How can we best understand politics and political science? To stimulate
interest about the nature and challenge of politics, in Chapters 1 and 2 we use some
dramatic “political games” to underscore crucial choices. Thus in Chapter 1 we
employ five cases drawn from history, literature, and political philosophy to focus on
the players, stakes, rules, strategies, and tactics in the “game” of politics. In Chapter
2 we employ five memorable cases to emphasize the central role of choice in politics.
Then, after using these cases and choices to highlight goals, realities, and judgments in
politics, we move on in Chapter 3 to outline the major tasks, fields, and controversies
of political science in a more systematic way. Finally, in Chapter 4, we emphasize how
the larger physical, social, and cultural environment affects the discipline and its tasks.

Our guiding question in Part II—Political Philosophy and Ideology—is this: How do
political philosophy and ideology illuminate our understanding of politics? In Chapter
5 we discuss the contributions of the great political philosophers, and in Chapters 6
and 7 we examine such political ideologies as liberal democracy, communism, and
democratic socialism.

In Part III—American, Comparative, and World Politics—we consider this question:

How far have we come in developing a fruitful science of politics? In Chapter 8
we begin by considering some of the key dilemmas in the areas of political form,
culture, and values. In Chapters 9 through 11 we focus on such significant empirical
problems as the gap between the actual and professed values of political actors. We also
explore which political patterns are successful in furthering cooperation, advancing
accommodation, and handling conflicts in national and international politics.

4 THE CHALLENGE OF POLITICS: AN INTRODUCTION TO POLITICAL SCIENCE

Another random document with
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—one of the best known in Paris as well as St. Petersburg and
Vienna. Immediately I wanted to know everything about him. He on
his side wished me to tell him all sorts of things of which I had never
even dreamed. We were at once on terms of delightful intimacy.
A short time after I was obliged to leave Nice. Just as my train
was about to go, my good friend jumped into my carriage and
accompanied me as far as Marseilles. There he bade me adieu and
returned to Nice.
Letter writing followed, in the course of which he told me how
highly he regarded my friendship—more highly in fact than anything
else in the world. For my part I thought of him more often than I
should care to confess, but I had my wits about me sufficiently to
announce to him, at the cost of a great effort of will, that he was too
young for our feelings of regard for each other to continue without
danger to both, and that he ought to forget me.
Just at this time there was presented to me a viscount, who laid
claim to my heart and hand. Need I confess that, with my eyes still
filled with pictures of the other man, I could not endure his assiduous
importunity. No one is deafer, says a French proverb, than who he is
unwilling to hear. And the viscount would not listen to my
discouraging remarks.
He seemed to have imposed upon himself, in spite of my rebuffs,
which were often severe and always discourteous, the task of
bringing me to terms. Undoubtedly, in spite of my reserve and
coldness, he might eventually have succeeded if one fine evening he
had not dropped out altogether under threat of legal proceedings. He
had a well-established reputation as a swindler.
During the time when the viscount was playing his game to win
my affections, my good friend’s communications stopped coming. I
wrote him several letters. They were never answered.
Some years later, in 1900, I had installed my theatre, as is
perhaps still remembered, at the Universal Exposition in Paris.
One day as I was on my way to the theatre I saw at a distance
my lover of the days at Nice. My heart began to beat violently.
 My friend approached. We were going to pass each other. He
had not yet seen me; for he was walking with his eyes on the
ground. Standing still, with my left hand restraining the beating of my
heart, I waited, feasting my eyes upon him. He turned his head and
passed me.
I was destined not to see him again for a long time.
Meantime, indeed, I learned through a third person that he had
told his father of his desire to marry me. A violent scene took place
between the two men. The father threatened to disinherit him. The
poor boy was sent away, almost by main force, on a voyage round
the world.
I have frequently reflected since then on the part the “viscount”
played in all this affair, and I should not be astonished to learn that
he led some artful embassy against His Majesty King Love.
 XVII
SOME PHILOSOPHERS

I HAVE frequently seen monarchs whose profession consisted in

ruling the crowd. I have sometimes seen crowds that appeared to
me mightier than the greatest of monarchs.
More rarely I have encountered philosophers, out of touch with
everything, who yet were able to create kingdoms within themselves.
These last have seemed to me more affecting than the proudest of
monarchs or the most impressive of crowds. Characteristic traits of
some of these are worthy of being described here. I should like to try
to do so, because of the emotions they have aroused in me.
We were living at Passy, my mother and I, in a house situated in
the centre of a garden. One day I heard some animated music
coming from the street. I ran to the gate to look at the makers of this
joyful harmony. A man and a woman were passing. The man played
an accordion as he walked with short steps. He was blind, and his
wife led him. The music was so sprightly, so different from the folk
who were making it, that I hailed the pair. I wanted the man to play in
the garden, behind the house, so that my mother, who was
paralysed, might hear him. They consented very willingly. I made
them sit down under a tree, near my mother’s chair, and the man
played on the accordion until a servant came to say that lunch was
served. I asked the man and his wife if they had eaten. When I
discovered they had had nothing since the day before, I told the
maid they were going to share our meal.
LOIE FULLER IN HER GARDEN AT PASSY
 At table we had a long conversation. The man had always been
blind. I asked him if he could perceive difference among colours. No.
But he was able, at least, to tell without fear of making a mistake,
whether the weather was clear or cloudy, dull or pleasant. He was
extremely sensitive to differences of texture.
I placed a rose in his hand and asked him what it was. Without
hesitation and without raising the flower to his nostrils he replied:
“It is a rose.”
Almost immediately, grasping it gently in his fingers, he added:
“It is a beautiful one, too, this rose, very beautiful.”
A little more and he would have told me whether it was a La
France, a Maréchal Niel, or some other species of rose.
As he had used the word “beautiful” I asked him what seemed to
him the most beautiful thing in the world.
“The most beautiful thing alive is woman.”
I then asked him who the person was in whose company I had
found him. His voice took on a tender tone as he said:
“It is my wife, my dear wife.”
After that I looked with more attention at the self-effacing and
almost dumb soul who accompanied the blind musician. Confused,
embarrassed, she had lowered her eyes, which she kept obstinately
fixed upon an apron, of a faded blue, on which the patches appeared
to be more extensive than the original material.
She was unattractive, poor thing, and at least twenty years older
than her companion.
Quietly, without concerning myself with the beseeching looks the
poor woman cast at me from under wrinkled and reddened
eyebrows, I asked the blind musician:
“She satisfies you, does she?”
“Certainly.”
 “You find her beautiful?”
“Very beautiful.”
“More beautiful than other women?”
As he had peopled his darkness with beauty my optimist replied:
“I do not say that, for all women are beautiful. But she is better,
yes, better than most of them, and it is that which, in my sight,
constitutes the purest beauty.”
“What makes you think she is better than the others?”
“Oh, everything. Her whole life, her whole manner of existence as
regards me.”
And in words so convincing that for a moment I felt that he could
see, he added:
“Just look at her, my good lady. Isn’t it a fact that goodness is
written on her face?”
The woman, with her eyes lowered, kept looking at her blue
apron. I then asked the blind man how he had made his living up to
this time, and how they had become acquainted, he and his
companion.
“I used to be, owing to infirmity, a real burden upon my family. I
did whatever I could but I could not do much. I washed the dishes,
lighted the fire, picked the vegetables, swept the floor, washed the
windows, made the beds—perhaps badly, but at any rate I did all
that, and although we were very poor at home they kept me. The day
came, however, when my mother died. Then it was my father’s turn. I
had to leave the empty house. I went on the road armed with my
accordion, asking for alms. My accordion became my best friend.
But I blundered along the roads. Then I met my dear companion who
is with me, and I married her.”
She was a cook, the woman told me this herself in an undertone,
who had become too old to keep her place, and who consented to
join her fate with that of the wandering blind man, serving as his
guide along the roads. The blind man found this arrangement a
blessing from Heaven, a kindness bestowed upon him by
Providence. They were married without delay.
“But how do you manage to live?” I asked.
“Well, it is not always easy to make both ends meet, for alas! now
and then, one of us falls ill. We are getting old, you understand.
When it is not fatigue that gets the better of us, then there is always
the cold. There are times when we cannot go out. Then it is
necessary to take a notch in one’s girdle.”
Each day they visited one district of Paris. They had divided the
city into blocks, and they sometimes walked miles before arriving at
their destination, for they lived far from the centre, in one of the
poorest suburbs.
“What day do you go by here?”
“Every Sunday, before mass. Many people of this quarter go to
church, and we encounter them going and coming.”
“Do they give you something?”
“It is a rich neighbourhood. We have several very good clients.”
“Good what?” I asked. “Good clients?”
“Yes, good clients,” he repeated simply.
“And who are these clients?”
“They are servants of the rich.”
“Servants?”
“Yes, some of them are very good. They give us old clothes; food
and money when they can.”
“And the rich people themselves?”
“We do not see them often. This is the first time a client has ever
invited us to lunch, and we have been going through this street for
seven years. No one ever asked us to come in before.”
“What do you do when you are tired?”
 “We sit down on a bench or on one of the steps, and we eat
whatever we have in our pockets. Here we eat while they are at
church.”
“Very well. You will have no need to bring anything to eat the day
you come by here. I invite you for every Sunday.”
I expected impassioned thanks. The man said simply:
“We thank you very much, good lady.”
Shortly after, I left for a long tour in America, and during my
absence my domestics received them every Sunday. From their
point of view I was merely a sure client.
One day I gave them tickets for a great concert. I was in the hall
and observed them.
The woman was overcome at seeing so many fashionable
people. As for the man, his features aglow with an unearthly light, his
head thrown a little back after the way of the blind, he was in
ecstasy, intoxicated with the music.
After four years they disappeared. I never saw them again.
The man, whom I had seen to be failing, probably died, and the
woman, the poor old thing, so unattractive in her blue apron,
undoubtedly did not dare to return alone.
At Marseilles I saw another blind man, a very old man, seated on
a folding stool against a wall.
Beside him stood a basket, guarded by a very young dog, who
sniffed at all the passers-by and barked after each one. I stopped to
talk to the old man.
“Do you live all alone?” I asked him.
“Oh, no,” he replied. “I have two dogs. But I cannot bring the
other one with me. He makes a continual disturbance, leaps and
fidgets so much that he never gets fat and any one would think to
see him that I don’t give him anything to eat. As a matter of fact, you
see, I cannot show him without being ashamed of him. People would
suppose that I was allowing him to die of hunger. Anyway I need only
one dog here. As for the other I leave him at the house, where he
serves as watch dog.”
“Oh, you have a house,” I said.
“That is to say, I have a room, I call it my house.”
“Who does your cooking for you? Who makes the fire at your
house?”
“I do,” he replied. “I light a match and then by the crackling of the
wood I know whether it has caught.”
“How do you clean your vegetables?”
“Oh, that is easy. I can tell by the feeling when the potatoes are
well peeled.”
“And the fruits and the salad?”
“Oh, that is something we do not have very often.”
“I suppose you eat meat.”
“Not very often, either. We have bread and vegetables, and when
we are rich we buy some cheese.”
“Why does your dog sniff so at every one passing by? Why does
he bark so spitefully?”
“Ah, madam, you see each time that any one hands me a sou,
thanks to his grimaces, I give him a little piece of bread. There, look
at him now.”
At this moment somebody had just thrown a coin into the blind
man’s bowl. The old man drew from his pocket a little piece of dry
bread.
The animal fell upon it with such a cry of joy that one might have
supposed he had just received the daintiest titbit in the world. He
nearly devoured his master with caresses.
“At what time do you eat? Do you go home to your lunch?”
“No. I carry my lunch in a basket.”
I looked. It contained some crusts of bread and nothing else.
 “Is that all that you have to eat?”
“Why, yes. Like the dog, I don’t ruin my digestion.”
“Where do you drink when you are thirsty?”
He pointed to a corner of the alley, where there was a little
fountain, alongside of which hung a goblet attached to a chain.
“And the dog?”
“He leads me to the fountain when he is thirsty and I give him his
share.”
“Do you come here every day?”
“Yes. This is the entrance to the baths. We do a good business
here.”
“How much do you make a day?”
“Twenty sous, sometimes thirty. That depends on the day. There
have been times when we have made more than two francs. But that
is rare. I have my rent to pay and three mouths to feed, my two dogs
and myself.”
“Where do you get your clothes?”
“They are given me by one and another. The butcher, the grocer,
the cabinetmaker, these are very kind to me.”
“Are you happy all alone so?”
“I am not all alone. I have my dogs. The only thing I lack is my
eyesight. But I thank Providence every day for keeping me in good
health.”
It was in consequence of a malignant fever that he had lost his
eyesight, for unlike my blind man at Passy, this man was not born
blind. Formerly he had been able to admire nature, to see pretty girls
in a country flooded with sunlight, to enjoy with his own eyes the
smile in other eyes, in eyes tender and well loved. In short he had
seen. What sadness his must be, to be unable to see again!
With much diplomacy I asked him about this.
 He had far less difficulty in answering me.
“I used to admire many pretty things,” he said. “I still have them
carefully enclosed under my eyelids. I see them again whenever I
wish, just as if they were there before me once again. And so, you
see, as these are things of my youth it seems to me that, in spite of
everything, in spite of being such an old hulk as I am, I have
remained young. And I thank the dear Lord for having been kind
enough not to have made me blind from birth.”
“And how old are you?”
“Eighty years, madam.”
This old man had a long walk before him to get back to his
residence. As I commiserated him regarding this, he replied:
“There is no reason for complaining, madam, I have such a good
guide, such a brave little comrade!”
He made an almost theatrical gesture, and said, in a voice filled
with emotion:
“My dog!”
“Does he guide you through the streets of Marseilles?”
“He does!”
“And no accident happens to you?”
“Never. One day I was crossing a street. My dog pulled at me so
hard from behind that I fell backward. I was just in time. A step more
and I should have been crushed by a tramcar, which grazed me. I
am mighty lucky, come now, to have a dog like that.”
In all circumstances this old man was willing to see only the
favourable side of things. That side, at least with the eyes of
imagination, the blind man could see.
One day the charwoman who came to our house at Passy to help
the servants arrived very late.
As she was ordinarily exceedingly punctual, I reproached her in a
way I should not have done if she had been habitually unpunctual.
Here is what I found out about this brave woman.
Three years before one of her neighbours, a working woman, had
had an attack of paralysis. This neighbour was poor, old, without
relatives and no one would bother with her. The poor little
charwoman, encumbered with a drunken husband and six children,
agreed to take care of the paralytic and her home if the other
neighbours would be willing to provide the bare necessities of life.
She succeeded in overcoming the selfishness of each and every one
in the warmth of her kindness. From that time on she never ceased
in the rare hours when she was free to look after the paralytic. She
attended to the housework, the cooking, the washing. The
neighbour’s condition grew worse. The case was one of complete
paralysis. The assistance which she had to give to this half-dead
woman was often of the most repulsive kind. Always smiling, always
tidy, always cheerful, she gave to the human hulk she had taken
under her protection the most thorough and intelligent care.
My little charwoman had always, at all times, been cheerful. I
wondered what kind of gaiety she would exhibit when at last the
paralytic’s death should free her from the load with which she had
benevolently burdened her life. This morning, the morning on which
she came late, she was crying. She wept warm tears.
I supposed that my reproach had caused this tearful outpouring.
But not at all. She said to me between sobs:
“I am crying—crying—because—she’s dead—the poor woman.”
It was her neighbour the paralytic for whom she wept.
In the north of Ireland I once saw some children barefooted in the
snow, during an intensely cold February. With some friends I visited
the poor quarter of a provincial city, where, I was told, people
working in the mills lived twelve or even more in cabins containing
but two rooms.
We placed no especial credence in these stories and we decided
to look into the matter for ourselves. It was all true, nevertheless. In
some cases the conditions were even worse.
 On reaching the district in question we noticed that a little boy
had followed our carriage. At a trot sharp enough to run his little legs
off he continued for about a mile and a half, all in the hope of getting
twopence.
The small boy came forward to open the door of our carriage.
The coachman rebuked him brutally. The child had so odd an
expression that I began to talk to him. He had five brothers and
sisters. He did the best he could to pick up something in the streets,
and he made from sixpence to eightpence a day. Just at present he
was trying to get a little money to buy some coal for his mother.
I, doubting the truth of these statements, made him take me to
his hut, which he had pointed out to us.
“That is where I live, madam.”
Certainly there was no coal in the house, but there were three
sick people. The father swept snow in the streets to make a few
pennies, for in this cold weather the mill where he worked was not
running.
There was complete wretchedness, frightful wretchedness,
irreparable wretchedness. And yet our little lad sang while he trotted
behind our carriage, just as his father whistled as he swept the snow.
Is not misery the school, the sadly sovereign school, of
philosophy?
 XVIII
HOW I DISCOVERED HANAKO

E VERYTHING that comes from Japan has always interested me

intensely. Consequently it is easy to understand with what
pleasure I came into relationship with Sada Yacco, and why I
did not hesitate to assume financial responsibility for her
performances when she decided to come to Europe with her whole
company.
Sada Yacco had brought with her a troupe of thirty people. These
thirty cost me more than ninety of another nationality would have
done; for apart from everything that I was obliged to do to entertain
them, I had constantly to go down on my knees to secure permission
to attach to each train that carried them an enormous car laden with
Japanese delicacies, rice, salted fish, mushrooms and preserved
turnips—delicacies were necessary to support the existence of my
thirty Japanese, including Sada Yacco herself. During one whole
season I paid the railway companies 375,000 francs for
transportation, but that cost me much less than to pay all the debts I
should have been obliged to assume from Lisbon to St. Petersburg if
I had decided to send my Japanese home.
I tried for a long time to get my money back by transporting my
Nipponese and their viands up and down the earth, but, weary of the
struggle, I finally assembled another troupe, which was as good as
the first one and which was willing to travel without a cargo of rice
and salted fish.
“Business is business” I am well aware. I decided, therefore, to
endure bravely the losses I had incurred, and I was thinking of quite
another subject when fortune appeared to smile on me again.
In London there was a Japanese troupe looking for an
engagement. The actors came to see me. They made some
ridiculous claims and I sent them away. But as they did not find an
engagement, we came to an understanding, and I found an
impresario for them, who took them to Copenhagen.
I went to Denmark, too, and I expected to look after the affairs of
these Japanese and attend to my own business as well.
When they arrived at Copenhagen I saw the whole troupe for the
first time. They all came to greet me at my hotel and played some
piece or other of their own invention.
I noticed at that time, among the comedians, a charming little
Japanese woman, whom I should have been glad to make the star of
the company. Among these Japanese, however, women did not
count for much, all the important roles being taken by men. She was,
nevertheless, the only one who had attracted my attention. She
played a minor part, it is true, but very intelligently, and with the
oddest mimicry. She was pretty withal, refined, graceful, queer, and
so individual as to stand out, even among those of her own race.
When the rehearsal was over I gathered the actors together and
said to them:
“If you are going to remain with me you will have to obey me. And
if you do not take this little woman as your star you will have no
success.”
And as she had a name that could not be translated, and which
was longer than the moral law, I christened her on the spot Hanako.
To make a long story short they assented to my request, and
lengthened out my protégée’s role. In reality the play had no climax. I
therefore made one for it then and there. Hanako had to die on the
stage. After everybody had laughed wildly at my notion, and Hanako
more than all the others; she finally consented to die. With little
movements like those of a frightened child, with sighs, with cries as
of a wounded bird, she rolled herself into a ball, seeming to reduce
her thin body to a mere nothing so that it was lost in the folds of her
heavy embroidered Japanese robe. Her face became immovable, as
if petrified, but her eyes continued to reveal intense animation. Then
some little hiccoughs convulsed her, she made a little outcry and
then another one, so faint that it was hardly more than a sigh. Finally
with great wide-open eyes she surveyed death, which had just
overtaken her.
It was thrilling.
The evening of the first appearance came. The first act was
successful. The actors acquired confidence and entered into the
spirit of their parts, a fact which caused them to play wonderfully
well. I was obliged to leave after the first act, for I was dancing at
another theatre, but some one came to tell me at the close of the
performance that Hanako had scored more than a success; it was a
veritable triumph. To her it came as a genuine surprise, but one that
was not more extraordinary than the anger provoked by her success
among the actors of the company. The box office receipts, however,
somewhat assuaged their sensitiveness, and I was able to give to
the feminine member of the troupe a longer part in the new play,
rehearsals of which were just beginning.
From this time on Hanako was in high favour. Everywhere she
was obliged to double the number of her performances. After
Copenhagen she made a nine months’ tour of Europe. Her success
in Finland bordered upon popular delirium. Finland, it is interesting to
note, has always evinced the greatest sympathy for Japan. This was
during the time of the Russian-Japanese War.
She played in all the royal theatres of Europe. Then after a tour in
Holland she came finally to Paris.
 LOIE FULLER’S ROOM AT THE FOLIES-BERGÈRE
The Japanese and Hanako stayed with me for nearly a year. At
the close of their contract they gave some performances at
Marseilles and then dispersed. Some of them went home, others
proceeded to Paris or elsewhere. Time passed, and I heard nothing
more about my Japanese, when one day I received a letter from
Hanako, who told me that she was at a cheap concert hall at
Antwerp, where she had to sing and dance for the amusement of
sailors, patrons of the place. She was all alone among strangers,
and the man who had brought her to this degrading pursuit inspired
her with mortal terror. She wrote me that she wanted at all costs to
be saved from her fate, but that, without assistance, the thing was
utterly impossible. She had gone from Marseilles to Antwerp with
other actors of the troupe to take a steamer for Japan. At Antwerp
she and her travelling companion had fallen into the hands of a low-
lived compatriot, and she called me to her rescue.
One of the actors of the company happened to be in Paris, and I
sent him to Antwerp with two of my friends. After numerous
difficulties and thanks to the police, they were able to enter into
communication with Hanako and tell her that they had come to take
her away.
One evening she succeeded in escaping with her companion,
and, with no baggage except the little Japanese robes which they
wore, they took the train for Paris.
Hanako had been obliged to leave behind her little pet Japanese
dog, lest by taking it away from the house she should arouse the
proprietor’s suspicion. They reached Paris shrouded in the European
cloaks I had sent them, which were far too long, and hid them
completely.
Presently I found myself in Paris, manager of one of the most
gifted Japanese artists, but, alas! with no company to support her. I
was puzzled to know what to do with and what to do for a kind,
gentle, sweet little Japanese doll.
I first tried to find out if some one would not engage Hanako, then
an entire stranger to Paris, and a small, a very small company for
one of the minor theatres.
I received from one of the managers a remarkable answer. If I
could guarantee that the play which Hanako would present was a
good one he would engage her.
The play? Why there was no play. But I was not bothered by a
little detail like that, and I explained that Hanako would offer a
wonderful play, one that was easy to understand whether you knew
Japanese or not.
Then I signed a contract for ten performances on trial. A
contract? Yes, it was a contract. And I had not secured my actors
yet. And I had no play yet. I had, altogether, Hanako, her maid and a
young Japanese actor. I was not discouraged, however. I undertook
to find another actor. I secured one in London, thanks to an agent.
Then I went to work to construct a play for four characters. There
were two major roles and two supernumeraries. The result of my
efforts was “The Martyr.”
 A great difficulty now arose. The question came up of procuring
wigs, shoes, costumes and various accessories. But here again luck
helped me out. They made a very successful first appearance at the
Théâtre Moderne in the Boulevard des Italiens. The play was given
thirty presentations instead of ten and twice a day, at a matinee and
in the evening. Presently the manager said to me:
“If your actors have another play as good as that one I would
keep them a month longer.”
Naturally I declared they had another play, a better one than the
first, and I signed a new contract.
New stage settings, new costumes and new accessories were
necessitated. The result was a new tragedy called “A Drama at
Yoshiwara.”
While the new play was running the manager of the Palais des
Beaux-Arts at Monte Carlo made a very important offer for my
Japanese, for three performances. I accepted. The troupe left for
Monaco, where they gave twelve performances instead of three. In
the meantime a small theatre, that of the Musée Grevin, proposed to
engage my Nipponese for a month in a new play which was to be a
comedy. To suit the purposes of this theatre we wrote “The Japanese
Doll.” Next the Little Palace offered a month’s engagement for a play
that was to be a tragi-comedy. There my Japanese played the “Little
Japanese Girl.” Finally they went to the Treteau Royal, where Mr.
Daly engaged them for their six plays, a circumstance that compelled
me to increase their repertoire by three new pieces, “The Political
Spy,” “The Japanese Ophelia,” and “A Japanese Tea House.”
Hanako finally began a tour of Switzerland with the company. Mr.
Daly suddenly wanted Hanako to appear in New York, and to break
off this trip I needed more imagination and took more trouble than in
writing a dozen plays. Then I was obliged, still on Mr. Daly’s account,
to break an agreement for a tour in France.
Such is the history of my relations with Hanako, the great little
actress from Japan. As it is always fitting that a story of this kind
shall end with a wedding, I may say that, conforming to the tradition,