《东方专制主义》是卡尔·魏特夫论述东方社会理论及比较政治学理论的著作。作者采用马克思的“亚细亚社会”的概念,对所谓的“治水社会”即干旱、半干旱地区的东方国家的性质和特征作了系统的分析,并与西方社会作了多方面的比较。魏特夫认为,中国两千来年是个治水社会,人们需要兴修水利来克服干早和防止洪涝才能维护农业生产。大规模的水利工程需要大规模 “Eastern despotism” is Karl Witt’s treatise on Oriental social theory and comparative political theory. By adopting the concept of “Asian society” by Marx, the author makes a systematic analysis of the nature and characteristics of the so-called “water-saving society” in eastern countries in the arid and semi-arid areas and makes a multi-faceted comparison with western society. Weittoff believes that China has been a water-saving society for 2,000 years, and people need to build water conservancy to overcome drought and prevent floods so as to maintain agricultural production. Large-scale water conservancy projects need large-scale