The book concentrates on the crucial Aristotelian concept of politeia, trying to show how its understanding has evolved for years, often towards fallacious interpretations. The text also points out how reconstruction of the original meaning of the concept can help in creating the frames for modern political science to avoid the traps of ethnocentrism and methodological reductionism that appear in most of today's models used by the political science and by the theories of the political systems.
In the last 20 years interest in Aristotle's works has increased, resulting in reconsideration of their problems, especially of Aristotelian political thought. Many researchers offered redefinitions of politeia, but it is worth noticing that most of the previous analysis did not take into consideration central role of the concept and its constant liveliness, suggesting rather its archaic character and usefulness only from the historical point of view. Clifford Agnell Bates Jr proves the opposite: for him politeia is the universal concept that helps to understand the internal structure of modern political systems, their dynamics and mutual relationships.