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State Formation in Korea and Japan, 400–800 CE: Emulation and Learning, Not Bellicist Competition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 May 2021

Chin-Hao Huang Open the ORCID record for Chin-Hao Huang [Opens in a new window]  and
David C. Kang Open the ORCID record for David C. Kang [Opens in a new window]
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Abstract

State formation occurred in Korea and Japan 1,000 years before it did in Europe, and it occurred for reasons of emulation and learning, not bellicist competition. 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. Korea and Japan emerged as states between the fifth and ninth 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. The elites of both copied Chinese civilization for reasons of prestige and domestic legitimacy in the competition between the court and the nobility.

Keywords

State formationemulationlearningbellicist competitionKorean and Japanese history
Type
Research Article
Information
International Organization , Volume 76 , Issue 1 , Winter 2022 , pp. 1 - 31
Copyright
Copyright © The IO Foundation 2021

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