戴维·毕瑟姆，英国社会学家，英国利兹大学荣休教授。毕瑟姆教授对韦伯、米歇尔斯、马克思主义以及法西斯主义颇有研究，而且他在促进民主和维护人权领域作出了突出的贡献。他的著作主要有《马克斯。韦伯与现代政治理论》(Max Weber and the Theoiy ofModern Politics)(1974)、《权力的合法化》(The Legitimation of Power)(1991)以及《官僚制》(Bureaucrac)(1996)。

Max Weber's writings on the politics of Wilhelmine in Germany and the Russian revolutions of 1905 and 1917 are much less well known than his contributions to historical and theoretical sociology, yet they are essential to any overall assessment of his thought. Drawing on these writings, still mostly untranslated, David Beetham offers the most comprehensive account available in English of Weber's political theory.

The book explores Weber's central concern with the prospects for liberal Parliamentarism in authoritarian societies and in an age of mass politics and bureaucratic organization, and shows how this concern led him to a revision of democratic theory which is still influential. It argues that Weber's analyzis of the class basis of contemporary politics necessitate a modification in some of the accepted interpretations of his sociology of modern capitalism. A special feature of the book is its full treatment of the extensive German literature on Weber's political thought.

This second edition contains a substantial new critical introduction and an expanded bibliography. Otherwise the text of the widely acclaimed first edition remains unaltered. This is a book which adds an essential dimension to the understanding of Max Weber for students of sociology and politics who have previously only approached his work through his sociological writings.