Hegemony and Empire:Two Kinds of Organizational Forms and Logics

Empire and hegemony are forms of organizations as well as two evolutionary logics of International Relations.In the long history,the two kinds of forms and logics appeared interactively,and presented a trend that an empire would convert to hegemony.An empire is an organizational unit,as well as an international system;while hegemony is an international system with a dynamic equilibrium.The complex relationship between the two indicates the complexity and variety of evolving international relations.Scholars in the post-Cold War put the idea of empire on debates again,while the resistance and the revolt to hegemony in different countries and groups of countries made hegemony to be a concept with strong political meanings.Although the fast changing international relations promoted so many predictions and criterion of the scholars,theshadowsof empire and hegemony are still there to argue with the new concepts.It will be helpful to further clarify the two old and ambiguous concepts to avoid simplified understanding,especially to find out the similarities and differences between the two concepts and their cultural meanings.In this way,we not only can get a better understanding about the changes of international relations in the past,but also make wise judgments on the current and future world affairs.