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Warlordism in China
Abstract
The Reviewis pleased to include this succinct summary of the elements defining, and the debates surrounding, the warlord phenomenon in China's history. Dr Roberts assesses the various ways in which the ‘classical’ warlordism of the period from 1916 to 1928 has been understood and interpreted. The focus is on the collapse of central state authority and the rise of provincial or regional military rulers exercising considerable power and autonomy over the locality. The paper presents a lucid account of how the origins of warlordism have been explained, what are considered to be the main characteristics of warlords and warlordism and what their effects were on the society and polity of China. A number of points raise interesting questions about the extent to which the concept might usefully be applied to some current problems in Africa. These include the decay of nationalism into regionalism and sectarianism; the extent to which such provincial power centres link up with foreign interests; the disintegration of the military hierarchy and the rise of lower‐ranked officer strata; and the burdens imposed on civil society by the extortion and violence occasioned by warlordism and by the obstacles it places in the way of political solutions to problems. The paper concludes with a brief consideration of alternative possibilities that were thrown up in China by the ‘space’ created by the decline of political control which warlordism reflected and perpetuated.
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Bibliographic note
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