War and State Formation in Ancient China and Early Modern Europe

By Victoria Tin-bor Hui and Tin-Bor Victoria Hui

Book Overview

The Eurocentric conventional wisdom holds that the West is unique in having a multi-state system in international relations and liberal democracy in state-society relations. At the same time, the Sinocentric perspective believes that China is destined to have authoritarian rule under a unified empire. In fact, China in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods (656-221 BC) was once a system of sovereign territorial states similar to Europe in the early modern period. Both cases witnessed the prevalence of war, formation of alliances, development of the centralized bureaucracy, emergence of citizenship rights, and expansion of international trade. This book, first published in 2005, examines why China and Europe shared similar processes but experienced opposite outcomes. This historical comparison of China and Europe challenges the presumption that Europe was destined to enjoy checks and balances while China was preordained to suffer under a coercive universal status.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0521525764
• ISBN13: 9780521525763
• Release Date: July 2005
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Length: 310 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.9" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Stimulating comparative history

Hui's War and State Formation in Ancient China and Early Modern Europe makes for an extremely good read. The book compares the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods (656-215 BCE) in China, which culminated in a single consolidated state, to the early modern period (1495-1815 BCE) in Europe, which did not. Hui argues that the two similar systems produced different results due largely to the presents and absence of a set of factors which she terms state-strengthening and state-weakening. The book has three main sections. Section one covers the period of history in China; section two, the period in Europe. Section three compares the two systems, ruling in and out various political, economic, and social factors that could account for the difference in outcomes. In addition to its being a stimulating read, the book provides a wealth of sources.

Pathbreaking work

This book has a great mix of theory and history. The arguments are convincing and well supported. A must read if you are interested in the dynamics of interstate systems and state formation.