1. State Formation in Korea and Japan, 400–800 CE: Emulation and Learning, Not Bellicist Competition
- Author
-
David C. Kang and Chin-Hao Huang
- Subjects
Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management ,Civilization ,Hegemony ,Sociology and Political Science ,media_common.quotation_subject ,State formation ,Competition (economics) ,Economy ,State (polity) ,Political science ,Political Science and International Relations ,East Asia ,Bureaucracy ,China ,Law ,media_common - Abstract
State Formation in Korea and Japan, 400-800 CE State formation in Korea and Japan occurred a thousand years before it did in Europe, and it occurred for reasons of emulation and learning, not bellicist competition. Korea and Japan emerged as states between the 4th and 8th centuries CE and existed for centuries thereafter with centralized bureaucratic control defined over territory and administrative capacity to tax their populations, field large militaries, and provide extensive public goods. They created these institutions not to wage war or suppress revolt – the longevity of dynasties in these countries is evidence of both the peacefulness of their region and their internal stability. Rather, Korea and Japan developed state institutions through emulation and learning from China. State formation in historical East Asia occurred under a hegemonic system in which war was relatively rare, not under a balance of power system with regular existential threats. Why? We focus here on diffusion through a combination of emulation and learning: domestic elites copied Chinese civilization for reasons of prestige and domestic legitimacy.
- Published
- 2021