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Controlling the People
In the feudal order of the Chou, control over the common people was left to the nobles, who,
in turn, obeyed the ruler in accordance with the traditional forms of proper conduct (li). In the
Warring State, with the nobles having been reduced to office-holders, wandering swordsmen,
and scholars, the ruler had to exercise direct control over the people with the help of an
increasingly well-organized body of public officials.
Shang understands this control as a relation of power and argues that a prince and his
officials have to be more powerful than the people. “A weak people means a strong state,” for
“being weak, [the people] are law-abiding” and “serviceable,” whereas “being licentious, they let
their ambition go too far” and thus “become strong” (Sh V 20, 303). To weaken the people, the
ruler should deprive the people of opportunities to indulge themselves and to pursue their
ambition. "A sage's way of administering a country is to prohibit much, in order to limit the
people’s capacity" (Sh II 6, 222). In particular, "the rich should be despoiled of their riches by
means of titles, so that they do not become dissolute" (Sh III 8, 236),
57
and war should be waged
to drive out the Confucian lice, since “not suffering from rites and music and the parasitic
functions, [the country] will be strong” (Sh I 4, 199).
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Understanding relations between the parts
of a political order in terms of power comes natural to political realists. Hence, Machiavelli
analyzes the relations between prince, army, and people in terms of power as well, while adding
the insight that power matters because political relations are inherently conflictual: "since princes
cannot fail to be hated by someone . . . they have to contrive with all industry to avoid the hatred
of those [groups] which are most powerful," which implies as a general rule that they should
"satisfy the people rather than the soldiers, because the people can do more than the soldiers" (P
56
Graham, Disputers of the Tao, p. 283.
57
Cf. Sh I 4, 196, 201; Sh II 5, 210.
Convention