This book brings together a range of studies that aim at illustrating the ideas, institutions, historical patterns, and contemporary relevance of the social-political system that existed in the main part of East Asia during the premodern era. This is most often known as the Confucian literati-bureaucratic state, the imperial Chinese bureaucratic state, or the Confucian-Legalist state, that was established and endured most notably in China, but also in several East Asian societies such as Korea, Vietnam, Japan. That state and sociopolitical system also greatly shaped state making in several kingdoms in the region – such as Ryukyu and Dali – which were later merged into larger polities. Illuminating the significance of these historical patterns for today, this book will interest political scientists, historians, philosophers, and the general public.
Author(s): Zhengxu Wang (editor)
Series: Governing China in the 21st Century
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 290
City: London
Contents
List of Contributors
List of Figures
List of Tables
1 The Long East Asia: The Premodern State and Its Contemporary Impacts
The Making and Patterns of the East Asian State
Organizing Concept: Minben Meritocracy
Contemporary Relevances
Structure of the Book
References
2 The Edge of Civilizations: The Chinese Civilization and the Development of World Civilizations
Key Condition for Civilizational Development: Humans, a Lot of Humans, a Lot of Well-Connected and Leisured Humans
The Center, the Peripheral, and the Outside of Civilizations; The Four Great Inventions
China as the Sole Continuous Civilization? A New Division of the World
Problems of the Chinese Civilization
Contributions of the Chinese Civilization to the World
Concluding Remarks
References
3 War and State Formation in Ancient Korea and Vietnam
Introduction
The Qin and Han Empires
Northeastern vs. Southeastern Frontier Environments
State Formation on the Eastern Indochinese Peninsula, First to Seventh Centuries AD
State Formation on the Korean Peninsula, First to Seventh Centuries AD
Discussion
Conclusion
References
4 The Sovereign’s Dilemma: State Capacity and Ruler Survival in Imperial China
The Argument
The Star Network
The Bowtie Network
Social Terrains Make the State, and Vice Versa
Capacity vs. Survival in Chinese History
Fiscal Capacity
Ruler Duration
An Analytical Narrative of Chinese State Development
The Star Network Before the Tenth Century
State Strengthening and Rule Survival in the Star Network
Transition from Star to Bowtie
The Bowtie Network After the Tenth Century
State Weakening and Ruler Duration Under the Bowtie
Why Was the Bowtie Self-Enforcing?
Conclusion
References
5 “The Great Affairs of the States”: Man, the State and War in the Warring States Period
Introduction
Leaders, the Winning Coalition and Interstate wars—An Institutional Explanation
Analytical Framework: The Dukes, Courtiers, and Wars
Empirical Studies: A Quantitative Analysis on Internal Politics and Interstate War in China’s Warring States Period
Conclusion: A New Perspective for Understanding Qin’s Unification
References
6 Understanding Nation with Minzu: People, Race, and the Transformation of Tianxia in Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries China
Introduction
Minzu and Minzu Zhuyi: An Etymology
Nationalism and the Imagination of a New World Order
Nationalism in the Context of Internationalism: A Communist Narrative
Nationalism in Chinese Revolution
Conclusion
Bibliography
7 Unipolarity, Hegemony, and Moral Authority: Why China Will Not Build a Twenty-First Century Tributary System
Introduction
Hegemony, Unipolarity, and International Order
Enduring Premodern Chinese Hegemony: A Trans-dynastic Idea of China
Attraction and Emulation, not Compellence
China Today—Crafting an Economic, Not Hegemonic Order
Conclusion: Can American Moral Authority Continue?
8 East Asian Monarchy in Comparative Perspective
Introduction
Theories of Monarchy and Its Survival
Social and Cultural Integration
Limited and Absolute Monarchies
A Digression on Succession
Political Equilibria
Services Rendered: Why Keep a Monarch Around?
East Asia
China
Japan
Southeast Asia
Thailand
Cambodia
Laos
Vietnam
Malaysia and Brunei
Conclusion
Appendix
Bibliography
9 Legalist Confucianism: What’s Living and What’s Dead
Confucianism and Legalism: The Main Ideas
Conceptions of Human Nature
The Ends of Politics
The Means of Politics
The Family and the State
Foreign Policy
Legalist Confucianism in History
What’s Living and What’s Dead in Legalist Confucianism
What’s Dead
What’s Living
Examples of Legalist Confucianism in Contemporary China
The Problem of Drunk Driving
COVID-19 Control in China
The Anti-Corruption Drive
Concluding Thought
Bibliography
10 The Minben Meritocratic State’s Impact on Contemporary Political Culture
Studying Political Trust in China
A Minben-Meritocratic Theory of Political Culture
A Minben-Meritocratic Theory of Political Culture
Empirical Data
Discussion and Conclusion
References
11 Conclusion
East Asia Regionalism or the Reorganizing of East Asia
The “China Model,” Democracy, and Governance
Civilizational Dialogues and Mutual Learning
Index
