【群学肄言堂】第十二季第5期 | 利维坦之谋：北魏王朝的国家能力建设与精英补偿

讲座信息

群学肄言堂2022秋冬05期

主 题

Leviathan's Offer: State-Building with Elite Compensation in Early Medieval China

时 间

2022年11月25日（周五）13:30-15:30

地 点

浙江大学紫金港西区创意大楼A座1127

概 要

How to soften resistance to state-building efforts by local powerholders? This paper highlights a strategy of compensation, where elites receive government offices in exchange for relinquishing their vested interests. We explore this strategy in the context of the Northern Wei Dynasty of China (386-534 AD) that terminated an era of state weakness during which aristocrats exercised local autonomy through strongholds. Exploiting a comprehensive state-building reform in the late 5th century, we find that aristocrats from previously autonomous localities were disproportionately recruited into the bureaucracy as compensation for accepting stronger state presence. Three mechanisms of bureaucratic compensation facilitated state-building. Offices received by those aristocrats: (1) carried direct benefits; (2) realigned their interests toward the ruler; and (3) mitigated credible commitment problems. Our findings shed light on the causes of the “First Great Divergence,’’ where similar “barbarian'' invasions at similar times led to fragmentation in Europe but further state consolidation in China.

  主讲人  

张晓鸣

香港大学经济与工商管理学院博士，现任浙江大学社会学系“新百人计划”研究员。研究领域包括历史社会学、量化历史、组织理论等。目前研究议题包括，中国早期复杂社会的兴起与衰落、中古中国的统一与分裂、古代官僚体系的组织学原理等。

  评议人  

郦菁

纽约州立大学社会学博士，现任浙江大学社会学系“百人计划”研究员。研究领域为历史社会学、国家理论、职业与知识社会学，主要关注知识生产的政治过程，精英、制度与知识生产者的互动等议题。

  主持人  

李皓玥

纽约州立大学Albany分校社会学博士，现任浙江大学社会学系“新百人计划”研究员。研究方向包括文化社会学，环境社会学，艺术社会学，媒体社会学，全球化等。聚焦于中国环境治理实践，她目前正致力于Crisis, Legitimation and Contention的专著写作。