The assumption that a divided world of competing states, such as the Westphalian system that arose in Europe (and which still holds today in the modern world), must be the stable state is challenged in this work. The situation of ancient China during the Spring & Autumn period and the Warring States period is used as a counterexample for how the balance of power can be tipped irrevocably leading to one state becoming supreme and absorbing or conquering others. The example of the kingdom of Qin (which went on to conquer its neighbors and create a unified China) is examined at length both for how it employed self strengthening methods to increase its own economic and military strength, and how it dealt with its enemies who naturally attempted to balance against Qin's rise.
Then an examination is conducted of Europe and why a similar situation did not arise of one state ultimately becoming strong enough to overcome the balance of power to unify Europe. In contrast to Qin, Victoria Hui argues early European kingdoms employed self weakening methods, that may have enabled swift short term raising of military strength but at the expense of long term loss of state revenue and loss of state power to intermediaries. The classic examples include taking out loans from merchants (often secured against future tax revenues), tax farming, and use of hired mercenaries. It is argued these short term expedients were the easiest ways in the more heavily monetized economy of Europe at the time, as compared to the Warring States period of ancient China. So whereas Qin and its neighbors were forced to extend the state apparatus wider and deeper to the local level to extract extra taxes and levies for its wars, in turn building up the centralized state and national armies, European rulers ended up dissipating their power through inefficient and unreliable mercenary forces, and landing themselves so deeply in debt that the ruler could become effectively hostage to others.
The second part of Victoria Hui's argument centers on the use of ruthless strategems. While both Europe and ancient China had its fair share of intrigues, alliances, and treacheries, she argues that Europe never reached the scale of bloodshed that the Chinese Warring States reached, not just in the numbers of killed but the purpose of war. The wars of national annihilation did not take place in Europe, and ended up in usually exchanges of territory or settling of succession issues. Tying in to her first point, Victoria Hui argues that the self weakening expedients practiced by the monarchs of early Europe led to inconclusive wars and states weakened to the point that no major state could get sufficient advantage over another to the point of truly being able to conquer and absorb another major state. The example of Napoleon is used as an example where a European power did attempt to adopt self strengthening measures that lead to a brief period of dominance in Europe, but which ultimately could not be sustained due to the long term weaknesses inherited from the self weakening measures of pre-Revolutionary France.
All in all it is a fascinating work and undermines some of the underlying assumptions of some followers of international relations today, which is dominated by a viewpoint that is very Western in focus and which assumes that a self balancing Westphalian system is the "natural" or stable state of affairs. The unification of the Chinese Warring States into one state and one dynasty demonstrates how fragile a balance of power can be, how it is not necessarily a stable equilibrium, and how a tipping point can be reached beyond which one state emerges as the "universal Leviathan". Victoria Hui is good in that she does not make any particular value judgments or moral arguments about either state of affairs, merely that the differing outcomes in China and Europe show how neither outcome can be viewed as "obvious" or "inevitable" in a system of competing nation states.
ISBN-13: 978-0521525763
ISBN-10: 0521525764
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Gabriel Stein
Absolutely fascinating
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 14, 2020Mr. T. CULLIS
An excellent, thought provoking book
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