Abstract
Comparison of Roman provincial government from the late Republic through the second century CE with the Western Han (202 BCE–9 CE) commanderies–kingdoms system shows that imperial legitimacy shaped the institutional forms of local rule. In the Western Han, All-under-Heaven represented commanderies and kingdoms as components of a single dynastic and moral order. In Rome, governors and military command maintained imperial supremacy, while differentiated legal statuses and municipal institutions allowed cities and local elites to retain substantial corporate responsibilities. Both empires relied on coercion, intermediaries, and negotiated cooperation, but contrasting conceptions of legitimate authority helped produce different institutional balances between imperial unity and local diversity.
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Recommended Citation
Chen, Lesong
(2026)
"Organizing Imperial Diversity: The Institutional Logics of Roman Provincial Government and the Western Han Commanderies–Kingdoms System,"
Armstrong Undergraduate Journal of History: Vol. 16:
Iss.
2, Article 1.
DOI: 10.20429/aujh.2026.160201
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/aujh/vol16/iss2/1
Included in
Ancient History, Greek and Roman through Late Antiquity Commons, Chinese Studies Commons, Political History Commons