Status Hierarchy and War in Early Modern East Asia.

Between 1368 and 1841 - almost five centuries - there were only two wars between China, Korea, Vietnam, and Japan. These Sinicized states crafted the stable relations with each other, and the most violence and instability arose between these states and the "nomadic" peoples to the north and west of China and Korea. The nomads and the East Asian states both operated within a unipolar system, but whereas the states accepted Chinese authority, the nomads did not. This distinction is not important if Wohlforth's argument that associates unipolarity with stability prevailed in East Asia. Yet China's relations with the nomads were characterized by war and instability whereas relations with the Sinicized states were characterized by peace and stability. Unipolarity cannot account for both of these outcomes. What this paper demonstrates is that there is a hierarchical relationship in place in the context of China and the East Asian states that was generated by a common culture defined by a Confucian worldview. These Sinic states possessed a shared sense of legitimacy which presupposes, in the context of Confucianism, that relations operate within an accepted hierarchy. The research presented in this paper helps clarify the distinction between an international system based on polarity and an international society based on culture. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]