The Legitimation of New Orders―Case Studies in World History

The Legitimation of New Orders: Case Studies in World History is a collection of seven case studies which treat different aspects of political and ritual legitimation in China and Europe over the past two millennia. Each case deals with a special topic:

Case 1: rituals adopted in the Qin-Han period to establish legitimate claim of the ruling emperors as endowed with mandate of Heaven;
Case 2: the establishment of function, of legal code and its period in the Song period;
Case 3: a territorial dispute related to sovereignty, as argued by Song scholar/officials in the Song period;
Case 4: the process of white-washing a case of seizure of the imperial throne by Emperor Yongle of the Ming dynasty;
Case 5: how propaganda were designed to portrait Sun Yatsen in the model of Confucian sage-king;
Case 6: rituals of coronation in Russian history;
Case 7: pre-legitimation of the Norman claim of a monarchy in England.
With a primary focus on the analysis of crisis and change, the book's main concern is how rulers and states work to produce a popular political consensus accepting their rule, an important issue in world history.