Empires and the states from which they are formed never reach equilibrium. Stasis is as impossible for them as it is for all complex organisms in nature. This conclusion has been powerfully borne in on me during three years’ work as editor-in-chief of the four-volume Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Empire which has had the ‘modest’ objective of covering, as far as possible, all empires in human history. Surveying the historic parade of empires cannot fail to make the observer think of Lewis Carroll’s Red Queen in Through the Looking Glass. The Queen cautions Alice that ‘Here, it takes all the running you can do to stay in the same place’. This should perhaps be an imperial motto. All states and empires must inevitably be in a constant state of adaptation and mutation in order to survive in the face of changing environments and the advance of rivals. Such a hypothesis also works well in dealing with the growth and collapse of capitalist companies. They too seem to have a yearning for expansion, never liking to stand still, for ‘growing the business’ is perceived to be a key element in their success. It can also prove to be a major weakness if not done properly. Companies which borrow too much for expansion, or injudiciously take over other, failing, businesses, can quickly collapse. In the history of empires, a parallel dynamic seems to operate. For them, standing still would seem to invite the attention of threatening neighbours or suggest weakness that might encourage internal rivalries. The reasons for the expansionary dynamic of empires are manifold: by these means imperial systems keep enemies at bay and deal with often fragile or turbulent frontiers. Expansion also serves to maintain the momentum of military

中文翻译：

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帝国与扩张国家

帝国及其形成的国家永远无法达到平衡。对于他们而言，静止是不可能的，对于自然界中的所有复杂生物而言，静止都是不可能的。在作为《威尔帝国布莱克威尔帝国百科全书》（四卷本）的主编三年的工作中，这个结论已深深地印在了我身上，《威尔利·布莱克威尔帝国百科全书》的目标是“尽可能”地涵盖墨西哥的所有帝国。人类历史。考察帝国的历史游行，一定会让观察者联想到刘易斯·卡罗尔的《穿越镜中的红色女王》。女王警告爱丽丝，“在这里，需要尽一切努力才能留在同一个地方”。这也许应该是一个帝国的座右铭。所有州和帝国必须不可避免地处于适应和变异的恒定状态，以便在不断变化的环境和竞争对手的进步面前生存。这种假设在处理资本主义公司的成长和崩溃中也很有效。他们似乎也渴望扩展，从不喜欢停滞不前，因为“发展业务”被视为成功的关键因素。如果处理不当，它也可能是一个主要弱点。借贷过多以进行扩张的公司，或者恶意地接管其他失败的业务的公司，可能会很快崩溃。在帝国的历史中，似乎存在着平行的动力。对于他们来说，站着不动似乎会引起威胁邻居的注意，或者表明可能会鼓励内部竞争的软弱。帝国扩张动力的原因是多方面的：通过这些手段，帝国系统使敌人陷入困境，并应对经常脆弱或动荡的边界。扩张还有助于保持军事势头