Explores ways in which ancient theories of empire can inform our understanding of present-day international relations.

Established in 221 BCE, the Chinese empire lasted for 2,132 years before being replaced by the Republic of China in 1912. During its two millennia, the empire endured internal wars, foreign incursions, alien occupations, and devastating rebellions--yet fundamental institutional, sociopolitical, and cultural features of the empire remained intact. The Everlasting Empire traces the roots of the Chinese empire's exceptional longevity and unparalleled political durability, and shows how lessons from the imperial past are relevant for China today. Yuri Pines demonstrates that the empire survived and adjusted to a variety of domestic and external challenges through a peculiar combination of rigid ideological premises and their flexible implementation. The empire's major political actors and neighbors shared its fundamental ideological principles, such as unity under a single monarch--hence, even the empire's strongest domestic and foreign foes adopted the system of imperial rule. Yet details of this rule were constantly negotiated and adjusted. Pines shows how deep tensions between political actors including the emperor, the literati, local elites, and rebellious commoners actually enabled the empire's basic institutional framework to remain critically vital and adaptable to ever-changing sociopolitical circumstances. As contemporary China moves toward a new period of prosperity and power in the twenty-first century, Pines argues that the legacy of the empire may become an increasingly important force in shaping the nation's future trajectory.

A creative meditation on politics, engagement, and spirituality, Welch's latest work connects the personal to the political and the ethical to the historical stream in which we all live. At a time when many progressives feel disoriented and powerless, trapped in a narrative of unbridled assertion of U.S. power, Welch looks into the positive side of the American story, the struggles of peoples to act in concert for inclusive democracy, and hard-earned insights into civic and religious life. She finds the elements of a deep, vital, and hopeful spirituality there. Through chapters on virtuosity, ceremony, audacity, laughter, and risk, she recasts the shape and rationale of personal and political engagement with insights from Native American philosophy, social-contract theory, engaged Buddhism, and the new interreligious commitment to peace. For those who seek a way to affirm and embody a positive ethic in a time of conflict, war, and division, Welch offers this workbook for new human community.

"Exceptional leaders are the ones who are able to analyze problems, optimize resources, inspire loyalty, and execute strategy. There is no more stunning example in history than Alexander the Great, whose leadership skills were so immense that they still resonate some 2,000 years later. "The Wisdom of Alexander the Great" reveals four leadership processes distilled from the life and extraordinary accomplishments of Alexander, King of Macedonia. Readers will learn how he: * reframed problems in order to meet seemingly insurmountable challenges * built alliances by using his strength to generate trust and respect, not just fear * established identity and ""branded"" himself a unifier, thus keeping the home base secure while continuing to expand his empire * recognized and assimilated the cultures and symbols of different peoples, becoming a powerful and trusted figure everywhere he went "The Wisdom of Alexander the Great" relates 34 riveting episodes from Alexander's expansion through Asia Minor, Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Middle East, the Persian Empire, and India. Each example, tied to a modern-day counterpart, imparts valuable lessons from the timeless legend of one of the greatest leaders in history."

"In this extraordinary volume, Krishan Kumar provides us with a brilliant tour of some of history's most important empires, demonstrating the critical importance of imperial ideas and ideologies for understanding their modalities of rule and the conflicts that beset them. In doing so, he interrogates the contested terrain between nationalism and empire and the legacies that empires leave behind."--Mark R. Beissinger, Princeton University "This is an excellent book with original insights into the history of empires and the discourses and rhetoric of their rulers and defenders. Kumar's writing is lively and free of jargon, and his research is prodigious. He manages to bring clarity and perspective to a complex subject."--Ronald Grigor Suny, author of "They Can Live in the Desert but Nowhere Else": A History of the Armenian Genocide "A masterly piece of work."--Anthony Pagden, author of The Burdens of Empire: 1539 to the Present

In 221 bc the First Emperor of Qin unified the lands that would become the heart of a Chinese empire. Though forged by conquest, this vast domain depended for its political survival on a fundamental reshaping of Chinese culture. With this informative book, we are present at the creation of an ancient imperial order whose major features would endure for two millennia. The Qin and Han constitute the "classical period" of Chinese history--a role played by the Greeks and Romans in the West. Mark Edward Lewis highlights the key challenges faced by the court officials and scholars who set about governing an empire of such scale and diversity of peoples. He traces the drastic measures taken to transcend, without eliminating, these regional differences: the invention of the emperor as the divine embodiment of the state; the establishment of a common script for communication and a state-sponsored canon for the propagation of Confucian ideals; the flourishing of the great families, whose domination of local society rested on wealth, landholding, and elaborate kinship structures; the demilitarization of the interior; and the impact of non-Chinese warrior-nomads in setting the boundaries of an emerging Chinese identity. The first of a six-volume series on the history of imperial China, The Early Chinese Empires illuminates many formative events in China's long history of imperialism--events whose residual influence can still be discerned today.

Although Germany's short-lived colonial empire (1884-1918) was neither large nor successful, it is historically significant. The establishment of German colonies and attempts to expand them affected international politics in a period of extreme tension. Smith focuses on the interaction between Germany's colonial empire and German politics and, by extension, on the connection between colonialism and socioeconomic conflict in Germany before World War I. Originally published in 1978. A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.