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malusfacticius t1_j2lwjpa wrote

That’s a wide stretch of definition by which very few (if there are at all) civilizations today can be categorize as “non-imperial”.

Think Korea. About the three little dots on the south of the peninsula they began with. Imperial for them to “grow” big via good ‘ol conquest and assimilation. The Japanese, their relatively recent imperial history and repression on the Ainu aside, didn’t begin with the single-race (Yamato) state we know today - where did the Hayato, Kumaso and Emishi people go? Makes your eyes roll!

You’ll find the world filled with “aggressor states” this way, that either started last year or in the neolithic times. Doesn’t make much sense other than diluting “imperialism” with anthropological whataboutism.

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