Comparative Historical Analysis of International Order Under Chinese Empire.

The paper examines the nature of the Asian states system, in particular, the stability and persistence of the Asian states system under unbalanced Chinese power. It addresses the empirical puzzle of why Asian secondary states submitted themselves to China’s tributary system that locked them in periphery positions and why they did not form balancing alliances against Chinese power. The paper looks at how the institutional innovation of the tributary system captured both Chinese power and the Confucian culture. As the resulting institution provided “a form of legitimation” from which secondary states drew their domestic regime legitimacy, they willingly submitted themselves to Chinese superiority. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]