Say that, instead of democracy, political leaders instead appealed to the mandate of heaven to legitimise their rule. What effects would this have, both of the internal political cultures of their countries, and on the way they viewed the wider world and conducted diplomacy with their neighbours?
ETA: By "mandate of heaven", I meant the idea that heaven/God gives good rulers the right to rule, and takes it away from bad ones. It doesn't have to be adopted from China; it would be quite within the bounds of the OP for Christian and Islamic societies to independently invent and adopt the idea.
ETA: By "mandate of heaven", I meant the idea that heaven/God gives good rulers the right to rule, and takes it away from bad ones. It doesn't have to be adopted from China; it would be quite within the bounds of the OP for Christian and Islamic societies to independently invent and adopt the idea.
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