ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses one of the main instruments that contribute to the sustainability of imperial systems of governance: the administrative system, that is, the task of holding the empire together, and getting it to function day by day. It explores how the Byzantine Empire organized and maintained its internal order in such a way as to ensure its longevity despite its high degree of diversity. Comparing the civil administrations of Byzantium and of the EU reveals very different challenges and characteristics. The Byzantine Empire is particularly interesting because of its administrative sophistication, the diversity of territorial statutes ruling the peripheries and the changing relations between the centre and the periphery, as well as its capacity to deal with multiculturalism and multilingualism. Technically speaking, the EU may indeed have a better performing civil administration, but the territorial reach of its staff is much more limited than that of Byzantium.
