A Three-Layer Analysis (TLA) of Livy, History of Rome, Book 1 1. Question Why must a founding community prioritize population growth and integration capacity over purity? 2. Abstract A founding community must prioritize population growth and integration capacity over purity, such as bloodline purity or origin-based purity, because the first task of a founding state … Read more
A Problem Setting for Connecting Zhenguan Zhengyao to Machiavelli 1. Question In OS Organizational Design Theory, Zhenguan Zhengyao is treated as an important foundational text for the principles of politics in the preservation phase. Then how should the politics of the founding phase be treated? 2. Abstract Emperor Taizong of Tang, who became the model … Read more
A Structural Analysis of Governing Popular Sentiment in Zhenguan Zhengyao 1. Question Why can the people’s support not be gained by coercive methods, and why must governance be based on the ruler’s virtue? 2. Abstract In Zhenguan Zhengyao, Emperor Taizong discusses the governance of the people with his senior ministers. In these discussions, it is … Read more
The Shift from External Control to Internal Control in Zhenguan Zhengyao 1. Question Why does preservation become more difficult than founding? 2. Abstract In Zhenguan Zhengyao, Emperor Taizong asks his senior ministers which is more difficult: founding or preservation. Fang Xuanling, who shared the hardships of the founding period with Taizong, answers, “founding.” Wei Zheng, … Read more
The Structural Function of “Virtue” in Zhenguan Zhengyao 1. Question Can virtue be understood only as an ethical concept, or can it also be understood as a control variable that stabilizes a governance system? 2. Abstract In Zhenguan Zhengyao, Emperor Taizong considered virtue to be as necessary as talent for governance in the preservation phase. … Read more
The Structure of Loyal-Minister Exclusion and Organizational Rigidity in Zhenguan Zhengyao 1. Question Why do exclusionary personnel decisions make an organization rigid and ultimately lead it to collapse? 2. Abstract For a state or an organization, human talent is originally one of its most important resources. Even so, when we look back at history, there … Read more
A Structural Crisis of the Preservation Phase in Zhenguan Zhengyao 1. Question Why can “peace,” although it is originally the most desirable condition, become a trigger for the deterioration of a state or an organization? 2. Abstract In a state or an organization, peace is usually regarded as the most desirable condition. When war and … Read more
A Self-Correcting Structure of Governance in Zhenguan Zhengyao 1. Question Why do organizations remain stable not through arbitrary rule, but through a deliberative system of cognitive correction? 2. Abstract In organizations, it is often said that the ideal leader is one who judges everything, decides everything, and directs everything alone. However, all human beings make … Read more
1. Question Why does the success or failure of governance depend not on the formal design of institutions themselves, but on the awareness of the actors who operate them? 2. Abstract A Three-Layer Analysis (TLA) reading of Zhenguan Zhengyao shows that the success or failure of state governance is not determined simply by whether institutions … Read more
1. Core Question Is Machiavelli’s proposition — “forced promises do not need to be kept” — really correct? 2. Abstract In Chapter 42 of Book III of Discourses, Machiavelli presents the proposition that forced promises do not need to be kept.However, a promise is not merely a spoken statement. It is the visible form of … Read more
