‘Whoever sets himself to base his political thinking on a re-examination of the working of human nature, must begin by trying to overcome his own tendency to exaggerate the intellectuality of mankind.’
The dissatisfaction with democratic governance during Wallas’ time led to many scholarly studies on political institutions. For Wallas, however, the focus on political institutions missed the much more important factor in politics: human nature. In order to fully understand how politics functions, Wallas believed we must first understand human psychology and this book is the result of his studies on the influence of human psychology on politics.
Graham Wallas was a British political scientist and social psychologist. He was also a leader of the Fabian Society and a co-founder of the London School of Economics.