The Monopoly over Violence in a Late Modernizer: Evidence from Imperial China
Posted: 27 Jul 2018 Last revised: 19 Jun 2019
Date Written: February 12, 2019
Abstract
This study analyzes how the state may establish or lose a monopoly over violence in the context of late modernizers, taking imperial China as a laboratory. We construct new micro-level data that span several hundred years. We show evidence that, traditionally, there was greater state development -- at the expense of private security provision via the clan -- in response to mass rebellion, because the cost of public security was relatively low. After 1850, however, there was a dramatic increase in this cost due to China's military loss to the West. In turn, we find evidence for greater private security provision -- now at the expense of public provision -- in response to internal conflict. This change reduced the imperial state's monopoly over violence and eventually promoted state failure. Our study provides a new perspective on the long-run political dynamics of the Great Divergence.
Keywords: State Development, Violent Conflict, Elite Action, Great Divergence, China
JEL Classification: N45, P48, O10, H10
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
