Confucian Strategy of Government

then there will be obedience without orders being given;

but if he is not correct in his own person, there will

not be obedience given even though orders are given.'

-- Confucius, Analects, XIII: 6 (p. 119)

In this single brief passage, Confucius summed up the essense of the Confucian strategy of government. This strategy had two crucial elements: leadership through example, and leadership through indirection. Of these two elements of strategy, leadership through example is perhaps the more immediate; it is a point driven home time after time throughout the Analects. It is also an easily understood ideal. The second element of strategy, leadership through indirection, has leadership through example as its necessary precondition. It is also, by its nature, a more subtle concept. Even more than leadership through example, however, leadership through indirection expresses perhaps the most fundamental concepts of Confucian political philosophy. In the discussion that follows, we will look first at leadership through example, then at leadership through indirection, then at their relationship, and finally at what they say about Confucian ideals of government.

Leadership through example is a familiar concept in many traditions other than the Confucian. Modern Western military history and officer training, in both of which leadership is a major topic of concern, display frequent examples of the idea of leadership

. . .
will do his duty." This is in a sense a most peculiar order to have given immediately before a battle. It gave no specific direction; taken literally it only called on the officers and men of the English fleet to do what they were required to do in any case. What, then, was its meaning and its purpose? Had this order been given to a fleet that was mutinous or dispirited, it would have had no positive effect; indeed, it might only have sharpened disaffection among those who received it. Indeed, French Admiral Villaneuve issued a quite similar directive before Trafalgar, and it is not recorded that it did anything to improve the performance of the Franco-Spanish fleet in the battle that followed. Nelson's order, however, was given to a fleet that was brimming with confidence in itself and eager to settle the matter and put an end to frustrating years of waiting. The intent of the order can only have been to call every man's attention to the momentous occasion in which he was about to participate. In issuing the command, Nelson violated the letter of Analects XIII: 6, but he underlined its spirit--in keeping with another doctrine found in the Analects, XIV: 11 (p. 154), where it is attributed to one of the great early disci
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Approximate Word count = 1490
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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