The General as Statesman: The Virtues of Measuredness and Daring in Thucydides’ Account of Brasidas

Abstract

This article explores the virtues of daring and measuredness in the character of Brasidas in Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War. These two virtues prove to be necessary for Brasidas to fulfill his role as a general. However, they are incomplete for a statesman concerned with the domestic affairs of a regime. In emphasizing these two virtues and displaying Brasidas only in his position as a general, Thucydides makes an important statement about the relationship between generalship and statesmanship, and to what degree the former is subordinated to the latter. Brasidas’ virtues become especially clear when contrasted with two other generals from the Peloponnesian War, Pausanias and Nicias.     

The National Union of Students and transnational solidarity, 1958–1968

In 1968 student activism and the international connections between students became a source of interest and concern throughout the world. These international connections, however, were far from new. Internationalism has always been at the core of the National Union of Students of England, Wales and Northern Ireland (NUS), the largest student organisation in the UK. The NUS represented the majority of British students, although their policies were never universally accepted but were the outcome of sometimes vociferous debate. In the years between the end of the Second World War and 1968 the NUS was deeply involved in setting up two international student organisations, the International Union of Students (IUS) and the International Student Conference (ISC), as well as developing their own bilateral connections with students around the world. The membership and leadership of the NUS were clearly interested, and concerned, about students internationally. However, the extent to which this interest and concern should be seen as solidarity or is more rightly a new manifestation of older British traditions of paternalism and liberal internationalism is questioned in this article.     

The crisis before the crisis: the ‘problems of modern society’ and the OECD, 1968–74

‘Economic crisis’ is conventionally understood as the absence of economic growth. However, far from being straightforward and self-explanatory, this understanding is itself an expression of a very particular ensemble of statistical techniques, economic theory, state practices and broader societal beliefs; it is not adequate for the historical analysis of what people have historically perceived as economic crises. This article aims at illustrating this divergence by analysing debates within the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on the so-called ‘problems of modern society’ from 1968 to 1974. These problems, which occurred at a time of comparatively robust economic performance, were perceived by contemporaries as a crisis closely related to the economic system. This debate led to a new impetus to recast the formerly dominant quantitative-growth paradigm in terms of environmental policies and qualitative growth. It was spearheaded by critical intellectuals within the OECD Secretariat and the OECD's Committee on Science and Technology Policy, who were at the same time launching the Club of Rome. In this article I will draw out the main arguments, actors, relevant contexts and effects of this discussion to highlight some of the characteristics of the intellectual uncertainty so distinctive of this period. The author argues that a historical understanding of this ‘crisis before the crisis’ demands a broader conception of economic crisis, one that is able to grapple with the divergence of economic growth, human welfare and environmental sustainability.