The State and Its Constitutive Relations

Employing the historical comparative method, this book explores the origins, evolution, and transformation of the Chinese state and its governance through the lens of human social relations. It reveals how continuously extending social relations shape state formation and governance systems throughout Chinese civilization.

The book shows that, rather than breaking and rebuilding, successive social relations in Chinese history continue, extend, and superimpose on each other over time. This process produces overlapping institutional changes and recurring political phenomena while generating new relational schemas through improvements to governance systems. The central argument posits that relations construct the state, which then reconstructs relations. Consequently, this work provides a comprehensive, unique understanding of the endogenous evolution and gradual improvement of Chinese state governance, forming the historical foundation and pathway for state modernization.

It is essential reading for scholars and students of political science, comparative politics, Chinese studies, historical sociology, and governance studies who are interested in state formation, institutional development, and the relational foundations of political systems.