Typological Analysis of Empires: Perspective of Borders
SUN Xing － jie
( School of International and Pulic Affairs ，Jilin University ，Changchun，Jilin，130012，China)
Abstract: Before the shaping of Westphalian states，history of Eurasian continent was made by the rise and fall of many empires． In spite of the disappearance of empires，their legacy and complex still exert a great impact on global politics nowadays． From the ancient Ｒoman Empire to the modern British Empire，their functions and forms differ from each other，yet the Agricultural Empires，Nomadic Empires and Colonial Empire remain the three dominating forms of empires． It is important for those who conduct empires research to make a typological analysis via the inherent logic and evolving dynamics of empires． As a fundamental difference between empire and modern sovereign state，border plays an important role in typological analysis of empires． From the perspective of borders，empire can be defined as a human organization with multiple power boundaries，while the boundaries of sovereign states are unified． There are two ideal types of empires， namely the time － dynamic empires and spatial － based empires，which represents both the forms and the developing logic of the empires of each type． Time － dynamic empires maintain their expansion through a long period of time and their borders are in a constant process of changing，while spatial － based empires establish and preserve their governance in a relatively stable space within a relatively stable border． The study of borders and power boundaries provide a new perspective for the research of empires，by which it could help us to realize the burdened legacy that border transition of empires have left to contemporary international relations． Key words: empires; multiple boundaries; time － dynamic empires; spatial － based empires