As the national capabilities grew during the early period, the Western Han Dynasty transferred its "hidden light" low-profile policy toward aggressively attacking foreign enemies. It could be considered as a confirmative case to support offensive realism. Some even worry if China would follow the same path today. However, this paper suggests that Han rulers did not necessarily aim at maximizing material power, as offensive realists argue. In contrast, the Western Han peacefully coexisted with weaker Yue people for about ninety years. With the help of the "laissez-faire" ideology, Han elites managed to avoid war. We argue that the Wu Di's war against Hiongnu could be better explained by the concept of security maximization suggested in the defensive realism. Thus, Western Han's case does not fully confirm offensive realism.
為了持續優化網站功能與使用者體驗,本網站將Cookies分析技術用於網站營運、分析和個人化服務之目的。
若您繼續瀏覽本網站,即表示您同意本網站使用Cookies。