Balancing Acts. Comparing political and cultural unification and persistence in the Roman Empire during the Principate and the Western Han Empire

Abstract

This thesis aims to compare the political and cultural unifacation in the Roman Empire during the Principate and the Chinese Empire under the rule of the Western Han Dynasty. By using a variation-finding approach and Mill's indirect method of difference, a methodological comparison is made. Causes for cultural and political unification and persistence are found in the realms of politics and administration, the military, ideology and urbanization. The Han Empire seems to have built a better basis for a long-lasting empire than the Roman Empire did.