The chapter looks at the long-term structural importance associated with Napoleon’s win in Austerlitz and the ensuing formal end of the Holy Roman Empire. It defines modes of transformation but rather as evolutionary dynamics that pave the way for historical trajectories in which new social forms – such as European global empires or even the notion of global empire – borrow from previous forms, such as the way of organizing political authority in the Holy Roman Empire. In doing so, it identifies two pertinent modes of historicity, namely the presence of several temporal layers in social and political phenomena (‘complex temporalities’), as well as an evolutionary account of non-linear change. In this sense, the chapter is not only about the presence of a specific past in the contemporary structures of the system of world politics, but also to provide a methodological input into contemporary debates about global historical sociology.

China, Inc.’s reliance on the low human rights environment domestically and free trade internationally creates a contradiction that is difficult to resolve. The ideas of democracy, human rights, and rule of law that come into China along with trade encourage Chinese people to demand political changes, which the CCP rejects. The CCP’s strategy to suppress domestic demand for democracy is to expand its influence globally. If the international community acquiesces to the way the CCP rules China, it will not only help mute the demand for political changes in China but also facilitate the party-state to achieve dominance in the world. This chapter reviews the strategies and tactics used by the CCP to influence the world, including using bribery and foreign aid, influencing the influencers, waging the great propaganda war, building a broad united front alliance, using the “Russian doll” method, practicing coercive diplomacy, and invoking the “insulting China” tactic to silence criticism.