Aristotle is the father of comparative politics. The above statement is coming from his theory of constitution. Based on his study of 158 constitutions, he has given the classification which becomes a guide for all the subsequent thinkers who ventured to clarify governments. For Aristotle, constitution, government and state are similar terminologies. Therefore, he is also known as the father of constitutionalism because he did not differentiate between the constitution and the manner of the government.
He has given 6 basic forms of the constitution. He has classified the constitution basis on two parameters. The objective of the governance and the number of people ruling. Aristotle proposes 6 fold classifications, 3 good and 3 bad. The three good consists of the Monarchy(rule of one), Aristocracy(rule of few) and Polity(rule of many). The corresponding types of perverted constitutions are Tyranny, Oligarchy and Democracy. In this scheme, the absolute best form of constitution is Monarchy, the absolute worst is Tyranny.
In his classification, the rule of Monarchy or Philosopher King is best but unachievable, its practical form is Tyranny which is the worst of all. Polity is the rule of the middle class in the interest of the people. It represents the golden mean of Oligarchy(rule of few rich) and Democracy(rule of many ignorant). Rich does not trust poor, poor conspire against the rich. Both trust the middle class. Polity avoids two extremes. The extremes of richness and poverty and the extremes of arrogance and ignorance. The middle class have reason and moderate wealth. This makes them the greatest lawmaker.
The hidden message of Aristotle's theory is a state where large gaps exist between the rich and poor classes those states will be prone to conspiracy and in states in which a greater number of people in the middle class exist those states are stable.
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