Sources of Social Power and Ding Xinzhao’s Reading of Chinese History

Dingxin Zhao’s book, The Confucian-Legalist State: A New Theory of Chinese History, contains a theory of Chinese history, a comparison with European history, and a contribution to a general theory of society in terms of my four sources of social power. I applaud all these bold ventures, while making some additions and criticisms. The main reason warfare dominated in both Chinese and European history in earlier times was that both saw the colonial expansion of core states over peripheral regions, and the “deflection” of war onto less civilized peoples made them an easier target. Thus, war was more rational for the core states. I also dispute his claim that political power is the primary source of power. Although this is a reasonable conclusion for much of Chinese history, in other contexts the ideological power of the world religions or of twentieth-century communism and fascism dominated, while military power dominated the history of the Roman Republic, and the economic power wielded by capitalism dominates some parts of the world today. All four sources have the capacity to dominate in certain contexts.