IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/jocore/v39y1995i3p467-494.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

War And Politics in Ancient China, 2700 B.C. to 722 B.C

Author

Listed:
  • Claudio Cioffi-Revilla
  • David Lai

    (University of Colorado, Boulder)

Abstract

The authors report the first findings on the origins and evolution of war and politics in ancient China (Legendary, Xia [Hsia], Shang, and Western Zhou [Chou] periods), from ca. 2700 B.C. to 722 B.C. The main findings are as follows: (1) warfare in China began, at the latest, by 2193 B.C. (first historical Chinese civil war) or 2146 B.C. (first interstate war), more than 4,000 years ago, and has continued unabated; (2) warfare patterns varied significantly across periods but in measurable ways, similar to earlier long-range findings for other regions; (3) warfare onsets increased across periods, particularly during the Zhou period, reaching a peak frequency of approximately 10% of the modern world frequency (1816-1980 A.D.); (4) war onset was mostly inhibited (opposite of contagious), symptomatic of stability and restraint; and (5) the highest stability occurred during the Shang epoch and the lowest during the Xia and Western Zhou periods. The results support the comparative, universal properties of warfare, both cross-polity and cross-temporally.

Suggested Citation

  • Claudio Cioffi-Revilla & David Lai, 1995. "War And Politics in Ancient China, 2700 B.C. to 722 B.C," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 39(3), pages 467-494, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:jocore:v:39:y:1995:i:3:p:467-494
    DOI: 10.1177/0022002795039003004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0022002795039003004
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0022002795039003004?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bienen, Henry & van de Walle, Nicolas, 1989. "Time and Power in Africa," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 83(1), pages 19-34, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Thomas Apolte, "undated". "Why is there no Revolution in North-Korea? The Political Economy of Revolution Revisited," Working Papers 200102, Institute of Spatial and Housing Economics, Munster Universitary.
    2. Lodewijk Smets & Stephen Knack & Nadia Molenaers, 2013. "Political ideology, quality at entry and the success of economic reform programs," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 8(4), pages 447-476, December.
    3. Roger Congleton, 2004. "The Political Economy of Gordon Tullock," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 121(1), pages 213-238, October.
    4. Murdoch, James C. & Sandler, Todd, 1997. "The voluntary provision of a pure public good: The case of reduced CFC emissions and the Montreal Protocol," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(3), pages 331-349, February.
    5. Thomas Apolte, 2012. "Why is there no revolution in North Korea?," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 150(3), pages 561-578, March.
    6. Roger Congleton, 2012. "The constitutional political economy of Gordon Tullock," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 152(1), pages 131-146, July.
    7. Amarasinghe, Ashani, 2023. "Public sentiment in times of terror," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    8. Roger D. Congleton, 2016. "Gordon Tullock’s implicit analytical history of government," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 27(2), pages 179-193, June.
    9. Patrick Francois & Ilia Rainer & Francesco Trebbi, 2014. "The Dictator's Inner Circle," NBER Working Papers 20216, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. David F Damore & Michelle Kuenzi, 2019. "Executive turnovers in sub-Saharan Africa," International Area Studies Review, Center for International Area Studies, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, vol. 22(1), pages 21-40, March.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:jocore:v:39:y:1995:i:3:p:467-494. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://pss.la.psu.edu/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.