phrase
Latin
Pax Romana
lit. โRoman peaceโ
A long period of stability imposed and enforced by a dominant power.
Origin
The roughly 200-year stretch from Augustus (27 BCE) to Marcus Aurelius (180 CE) when, despite revolts at the edges, the Mediterranean world was unusually peaceful and prosperous under Roman rule. The peace was real, but it was enforced โ Tacitus's hostile gloss was that the Romans 'make a desert and call it peace.'
Modern usage
International-relations vocabulary. 'Pax Britannica' described 19th-century British dominance; 'Pax Americana' is the standard term for the post-1945 US-led order. Reaching for the phrase usually signals an argument about whether such peace is worth its costs.
Tags
empire
peace
geopolitics