Empires, the World Order and Small States

States Systems and Universal Empires

"Civilizations" and "world systems" are alternative labels for the largest macropolitical entities that have existed in human history. These historical civilizations/world systems may be seen as having two polar types of power structure, the "states system" and the "universal empire." Each form has certain characteristic accompaniments, which may promote it, be promoted by it, or both. For stat...

States and Empires in Ancient Mesoamerica

Ancient Mesoamerican polities are an important source of data for considerations of state development, despite internal debate over their size and complexity. We review complex political units, usually referred to as “states” and “empires,” in ancient Mesoamerica and reach the following conclusions: these polities tended to be hegemonic, rather than territorial, in composition; they melded ritu...

Empires and Empire-Building City-States

East - West Orientation of Historical Empires and Modern States

In a chapter entitled “Spacious Skies and Tilted Axes” Jared Diamond (1997) argues that crops and domestic animals are spread more easily along lines of latitude (along an East-West axis) rather than along lines of longitude (along a North-South axis). Diamond suggests that East-West spread is easier because similar climates and soil types tend to be arranged in east-west oriented bands. Th is ...

Failed States and International Order: Constructing a Post-Westphalian World

What is meant by ‘failed’ states in debates about international order, security and threats to security? Does the concept of failed states, as constructed through academic and policy discourse, undermine the ontological assumptions of international order premised upon bounded, viable, rational states? Are weak or failed states a viable category for analysis in international politics? Can we fin...