Empires Thrive on Pluralism, Not Brutality
Shadow Empires: An Alternative Imperial History, by Thomas J. Barfield, Princeton University Press, 384 pages, $35
In his classic book Afghanistan: A Cultural and Political History, the anthropologist Thomas Barfield argued that Afghan society had seen stability only when its rulers respected the diversity of the country’s communities and allowed them some space to govern themselves. In Shadow Empires: An Alternative Imperial History, Barfield extends this argument to empires throughout history. The most important ingredient in imperial longevity, he argues, wasn’t brutality; it was respect for pluralism. The empires whose rules had more room for cultural difference were the empires more likely to thrive.
To be an empire, by Barfield’s definition, a state must have at least 5 million square kilometers and at least 40 million people. Within those criteria, he distinguishes two groups. Endogenous empires are created through a process of internal development and outward expansion. They are large, they rely on direct taxation or tributes for revenue, and they include some of the best-known empires in history: the Romans, the Chinese, the Ottomans. Exogenous empires emerge from their interaction with already-established empires. Rather than depending on internal revenue to support themselves, they rely on trade, raids, and piracy.
While most people associate imperial rule with endogenous empires, Barfield focuses on the exogenous examples—the “shadow empires” of his title. Like Adam’s rib, these emerged from the flesh of their progenitors to grow into something more complex and beautiful.
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Barfield identifies five main varieties of shadow empires:
- Maritime empires built their power by controlling sea trade routes and ports, extracting wealth primarily through trade dominance rather than territorial expansion. They include ancient Athens and, more recently, the Portuguese and British empires.
- Steppe nomadic empires had dispersed populations and few urban centers. They relied on pastoralism and military power to control vast territories and influence sedentary states. They include the ancient Xiongnu and medieval Turkish empires.
- Empires of the periphery emerged in frontier areas after endogenous empires were weakened. Barfield divides these into vulture empires, which arose when leaders at the edge of a collapsing empire established their own dominion from its remnants, and vanquisher empires, which emerged when frontier groups conquered endogenous states and reorganized them under a new alien elite. One vulture was China’s Qing dynasty, and one vanquisher was the Abbasid Caliphate.
- Empires of nostalgia derived their legitimacy by emulating long-gone empires, but they often lacked their precursors’ power or resources. The classic example is
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