Zhongjing Liu - The Imagination of the Empire, the State, and the Nation-State

TheImagination of the Empire, the State, and theNation-State

Published by Zhongjing Liu at Smashwords

Copyright 2018 Zhongjing Liu

Lecturer: Zhongjing Liu

Time: September 20, 2015

For Chinese version,

Transcriber: Three Horses

For English version,

Translator: Scott Cui

Cover maker: Fuyukawa Mame

Note:

1. In case of any discrepancy between the Chinese version andthe English version, the Chinese version shall prevail.

2. This translation does not include the Q&Apart.

3. For Chinese version, please look at:20150920 https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/815558

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There have been countless politicalcommunities, but, in a relatively concise way, you can divide theminto two categories: The first is a purely factual regime with notheoretical basis, you can call it generically "the State." Anycommunity that can exercise actual powers can be called a state,with no conditions needed; the second kind needs to have a specifictheoretical basis, its existence cannot be mere de facto power. Itmust claim to be of a particular theoretical foundation,principles, or to have a mission. This relatively advancedpolitical entity also includes many types. The two prominent onesare the Empire and the Nation-State.

In the ancient world, theEmpire was the main political form of surpassing the State; in themodern world, the Nation-State was the main political formsurpassing the State. The ordinary States are upgraded toregularized Empire or Nation-State in the process of establishinglegitimacy, during which they can gain certain benefits. That is tosay, it can appear superior to many States which have only factualpowers, and thus may claim certain rights that the latter do notpossess or consider themselves to be worthy of. This abstract rightcan often strengthen the political integration inside the Stateunder normal circumstances. It can also enable the state tocontinue its own existence without material means and restoreitself at an appropriate time. You can say that it is a moreadvanced and ethical form of political community. It is theaccumulation of political resources of the State that could be usedto extend the lifespan of the Empire, or even to revive it incertain cases. For example, the Roman Empire and the Holy RomanEmpire, or the Tian Xia system ( , literally"All Under Heaven") in the Far East, are such typical concepts.Even though the original substantive political form has perished,the title of the Roman Empire lasted longer than Rome itself. Afterthe destruction of its substantive political body, there were stillnumerous individuals who attempt to restore Rome or rebuild theRoman system based on Romes concept of the world. This effort hasbeen maintained for more than a thousand years. Although it did notsucceed in the establishment of Roman-style countries, it stillconveyed many of the political qualities of the Classical World tothe modern world.

A nation-state relies no longer uponthe horizontal integration of the empire, but rather civil statehypothesis" which is also virtual but has the vitality beyond thereality. The concept of "nationals" assumes that all residents on afixed land can form a transcendental common will through universalpolitical participation. This common will can create a community,and then within this community a variety of constitutionalgovernments. Its characteristics are precisely the opposite of thatof the Empire. The Empire emphasizes horizontal integration; it canintegrate various local and individual states horizontally. TheEmpire combines multiple heterogeneous communities through theelite upper class to form a universal elite class that transcendslocality and particularity. It relies on this elite class to uniteheterogeneities that are inherently unsuitable for unity. Forexample, Rome, what is the meaning of Rome in the West? It is theuniversal power beyond local states. What is the status of a localstate? It is a specific place, the Syrah city-state, the Bohemianprincipality or kingdom, representing only a particular interestgroup. But if you call yourself Rome, whether it is the RomanEmperor Augustus or the Holy Roman Emperor, then you are sayingthat you must transcend local interests and implement selfless andequal governance based on higher and universal concepts. Therefore,the justice you provide has a higher level of integration than theorder provided by the local state.

The elite classes of the Empire allhave the characteristics of trans-nationality. However, theintegration of transnational elites also means sacrificing localvertical integration. If you gather the elite classes of Gaul,Spain, and Asia Minor under the rule of the universal Roman Empireby the collective Latin culture and Roman law, it means that yousacrificed another opportunity. These Latin-speaking Gauls couldindeed come to the Roman Senate. Latin-speaking Spaniards couldbecome Emperor Trajan and create their dynasty, but then therewould be no way for them to deepen and construct a connection withtheir residents who speak local dialects. The price of establishinga universal empire rule horizontally is that the civil communitywill collapse vertically. Transnational elites have eliminatedobstacles in their negotiations across borders, but the naturallinks between local elites and the local grassroots are bound tosuffer severe losses. This is a distinctive feature of the RomanEmpire, and also a characteristic feature of the Eastern world thatwe are more familiar with, the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

However, the Nation-State is just theopposite. We can say that it has taken the principle of verticalintegration. The elite of France or England no longer go to Romeand establish a universal system based on Catholic beliefs or Latinlanguages; instead, it turns the French or English language into abond of communication between the elites and the grassroots. Usinglanguage, culture, and common historical memories, they tried tocombine grassroots and elites. In the ideal national community, thedifferences between rulers, elites, and grassroots are ignored.Everyone is assumed to be of a highly homogeneous nationalcommunity. This is an assumption because no civil community ornational community has ever achieved internal homogeneity. But theimaginary national-state established by the national community isbuilt on homogeneous imagination. Even if they are not entirelyequal, the political theory must assume that they are whollyuniform and homogenous. Only on this basis can the community beconstructed. The completion of vertical integration means the deathof horizontal integration and expansion.

The establishment of the nationalcommunity will inevitably have two consequences. The first is thatthe local grassroots expanded their political power; second, theoriginal international bonds of the elites were weakened andparalyzed. Before the rise of Nation-States, the elite classes,Latin or French, were closely related. Even if the war against eachother, it will be a war fought within some moral codes by a certainnumber of elites and professional troops, and had nothing to dowith the local grassroots. The position of the grassroots in thesewars and negotiations is like the audience watching a footballmatch in a stadium. But after the birth of the "nationals," the warcould no longer be confined between the King of France and the Kingof England but would be the war between the French nationals andthe English nationals, that is, between the whole French and theEnglish population. Therefore, elite conflicts and fair play couldnot have been realized. The war between nationals is total war andis much crueler and destructive than that between elites. It cutoff the existing internationalist ties and transformed theNation-State's world into a world full of fierce conflicts andwars. One of the costs of nationalization is the escalation of thewar. This is an inevitable by-product of the concept of thenational community.