帝国的类型学分析:基于边界的视角

Typological Analysis of Empires: Perspective of Borders

在"威斯特伐利亚国家"兴起之前,欧亚大陆的历史是由几十个帝国的兴衰演绎的,时至今日,帝国虽然已经销声匿迹,但是帝国的情结以及帝国的遗产依然影响着当今世界政治格局。从罗马帝国到现代的大英帝国,帝国的功能与形态迥然有别,农业帝国、游牧帝国与殖民帝国是帝国的三种主要表现形式,如何从帝国的内在逻辑与演化动力对帝国进行类型学分析是帝国研究需要回答的问题。边界,既是帝国区别于现代主权国家的一个根本特征,也是对帝国进行类型学分析的参照。从边界的视角而言,帝国是具有多重权力边界性质的人类组织形态,而主权国家的边界是合一的;同时帝国可以分为两种理想类型,即时间性帝国与空间性帝国,它们不仅代表了两种帝国的形态,也代表着两种帝国演进的逻辑。时间性帝国处于扩张的"时间之流",边界变动不居;而空间性帝国则在相对稳定的空间中建立与维护帝国统治,边界处于相对稳定状态。边界提供了一种认知帝国的新视角,同时也能够更清晰地认知帝国边界变迁给当代国际关系留下的沉重遗产。

Before the shaping of Westphalian states, history of Eurasian continent was made by the rise and fall of many empires. In spite of the disappearance of empires, their legacy and complex still exert a great impact on global politics nowadays. From the ancient Roman Empire to the modern British Empire, their functions and forms differ from each other, yet the Agricultural Empires, Nomadic Empires and Colonial Em- pire remain the three dominating forms of empires. It is important for those who conduct empires research to make a typological analysis via the inherent logic and evolving dynamics of empires. As a fundamental differ- ence between empire and modern sovereign state, border plays an important role in typological analysis of empires. From the perspective of borders, empire can be defined as a human organization with multiple pow- er boundaries, while the boundaries of sovereign states are unified. There are two ideal types of empires, namely the time - dynamic empires and spatial - based empires, which represents both the forms and the developing logic of the empires of each type. Time - dynamic empires maintain their expansion through a long period of time and their borders are in a constant process of changing, while spatial - based empires establish and preserve their governance in a relatively stable space within a relatively stable border. The study of bor- ders and power boundaries provide a new perspective for the research of empires, by which it could help us to realize the burdened legacy that border transition of empires have left to contemporary international relations.