世界的重塑:从“帝国”到“民族国家”

The Remaking of the World:From the Empires to the Nation-States

1919-2019年,整个世界经历了一个重新塑造的过程,这就是从"帝国"或帝国殖民地向"民族国家"的转变,"民族国家"取代帝国,成为当今世界最主要的组织形式。由于历史背景不同,"民族国家"之间存在极大的差异。从国家构建的角度,循着"已构建国家"、"再构建国家"和"构建中国家"三条线索,分析当今世界三种不同国家的来龙去脉,可以揭开世界的"底色",展示出一幅不同的国际关系图景。"民族国家"遭遇的挑战,特别是构建中国家的种种遭遇,不仅表明多数"民族国家"徒有其名,而且也表明这个百年之前开始的世界重塑的过程依然没有完成。历史地看,无论帝国还是民族国家,都是人类共同体的组织形式,人类历史实际上也就是一部不同类型和规模的"共同体"演化的历史。如果把"帝国"和"民族国家"放在人类共同体演进的序列中去考察,就不会在非此即彼之间犹豫徘徊,而为"人类共同体"的实现开辟出新的更多的发展空间。在这其中,中国的历史经验和现实考量都具有非常重要的意义。

From 1919 till 2019,the world underwent a remaking process,a transformation from the empires,or colonial empires to the nation-states.The nation states have replaced the empires as the most important organization of the contemporary world.However,vast differences exist among the nationstates due to respective historical backgrounds.From the perspective of state-building,this paper further explores three types of states-"built-states","rebuilt-states"and "building-states",which reveals the "ground color"of the world and creates a new way of reviewing international relations.The challenges for nation-states,especially building-states,not only expose the reality that most nation-states only possess an empty name,but also reveal the fact that the century-long remaking process of the world is still unfinished.Human history is essentially an evolutionary process of various types of communities of which both empires and nation-states are organizational presentations.Once we put empires and nation-states in the line of community evolution,we may acquire greater ability to imagine the future of the world even beyond them.China’s history and contemporary experiences can be of great value for the remaking of the world.