The Origins of Order in Historical East Asia: Power, Hierarchy, and the Limits of the Tribute System > Journal

The tribute system has become the dominant framework for analyzing historical international order in East Asia. Much of this literature argues that it produced peace and stability, institutionalized hierarchy as the organizing principle of interstate relations, and provided a norm-based alternative to balance-of-power politics. This article challenges that view on both logical and empirical grounds. It argues that the tribute system provides a partial and distorting account of East Asian international relations. Rather than a single coherent order, East Asia encompassed multiple, overlapping orders—including Mongol and Tibetan orders—that cannot be reduced to tributary relations. Moreover, East Asia was not governed by a fundamentally different logic from Europe. In both regions, interstate relations were shaped by the logic of anarchy, while hierarchy arose from asymmetries in material power. To account for these dynamics, the article develops a theoretical framework that locates the origins of international order in material power while recognizing the role of legitimation in sustaining hegemonic authority. Cultural norms and values supplied the language of legitimation but did not constitute an independent source of order. Reframing Asian hierarchy in this way suggests that international order is best understood as the product of material power and the cultural strategies through which political authority is legitimized.

IR and the Tribute System

The Origins of Order

Conclusion