SUMMARY:

Dominic Lieven chose to respond to the discussion piece “New Imperial History” in the form of a review article on the current debates on the conceptualization of empire as an analytical category in the disciplines of political science, international relations, and history. Lieven continues to stress the centrality of power in the conception of empire and envisages a mutually beneficial dialogue between historians and political scientists in the process of explicating the relationship of power in the history of empires and the world and making the analysis of power sensitive to the variety of historical contexts. Lieven contends that it is possible to form a precise definition of the analytical concept of empire, the prerequisite for which is the uncoupling of two concepts: empire and imperialism. For Lieven, the elaboration of a more precise definition of empire is linked to a reconstruction of meanings of the concept of empire in the long term and in different cultural contexts, the most distinctive of which is the German concept of Reich. However, Lieven argues that this analysis does not yield an unambiguous picture and therefore he resorts to conceptualizing the structural features of power, geopolitics, the management of multiethnicity, rule without consent, and military, cultural, and ideological hegemony. Overall, Lieven brings up the longevity of empires and defines empires as historical phenomena that underpin the contemporary state of international relations and political configurations in former imperial regions of the world. In this respect, empire evolves into a legacy and a model that might help scholars understand the genesis and dilemmas of the three imperial centers in the present world: China, the EU and the US.