殖民体系、后殖民体系与大国崛起

Colonial System, Post-Colonial System and the Rise of Great Powers

西方国际关系理论所描绘的威斯特伐利亚体系或主权国家体系,实际上涵盖了两个次级体系:殖民体系和后殖民体系。前者从地理大发现直至二战结束后,后者则自殖民体系瓦解后直至当今。在殖民体系下,主权是欧洲列强的特权,也是其对其他地区"落后民族"进行野蛮殖民掠夺、占领和侵略的借口和依据。这一体系是少部分国家享有主权、大部分国家主权被剥夺的等级体系,也是大国通过武力掠夺、殖民而实现崛起的暴力体系。在后殖民体系下,主权平等第一次在法律上得以牢固确立并在实践中得到贯彻;殖民掠夺和通过武力开疆拓土被视为非法,战争也被严格地加以限制;国家的崛起只能通过内修政治、外通贸易的方式和平实现。同时,密集的国际制度网络,也为后起大国实现其抱负和提升国际威望提供了更多的空间和场所,为其和平崛起提供了更大的可能性。中国、印度等新兴大国的群体性崛起,部分证明了后殖民体系的弹性及该体系下大国和平崛起的可能性,也预示着中国、印度等新兴大国与既有大国继续和平共处的可能前景。

This paper argues that the Westphalian system or the sovereign nation-state system defined by the mainstream international theory ignores the fact that it consists of two sub-systems instead: the colonial system and post-colonial system, with the former expanding from the era of the Great geographic discovery by the West tothe end of the Second World War, and the latter lasting from the dissolving of the colonial system till now. The colonial system is characterized by the savage conquering and occupation of the 'backward races' in America, Africa, Australia, and Asia by the West, in which only the Western powers enjoy the privilege of sovereignty and the rest are deprived of it, and the rise of powers is accompanied by war and conquering. The post-colonial system formally abandoned conquering war and colonization as legitimate instruments of foreign policy, and it's also a closely-knitted web of international institutions. As a result, it provides much more opportunities and space for nations to rise peacefully. The simultaneous peaceful rise of China and India is a convincing case and hopefully it will continue to live peacefully with the established powers in the future in this post-colonial system.