ABSTRACT
Origins do not reveal truths. The past does not speak for itself. History is rewritten in each generation because each generation imposes on the past a different language and a different need. One persistent need, however, is to use the past as a testing ground for the present. For the proper study of mankind, history is a tool made necessary by the absence of controlled laboratory conditions. To use history as a surrogate laboratory, the student must go to it with an established idea about society, or seek through history to develop an idea about society-or both. My intention is to establish reciprocity with history. The “Arenas of Power” idea, though only rudimentary in its development at this point, will be tested with the data drawn from the history of public policy and politics; therefore as an hypothesis it will guide in the choice and treatment of data. At the same time, the testing will be used to sharpen the scheme, to bring it to further maturity, so that it will be a better instrument for dealing with the present.
