A mediocre ruler must rule: Han Fei on rulership

This article explores Han Fei’s political theory of rulership by taking a cue from his observation that most rulers are mediocre in their talent or skill. Through various analogies, Han Fei creates the image of a ruler as a paranoid man whose unique political life, defined by the possession of supreme power, puts him in a life of constant fear of usurpation and regicide. While urging the ruler to maintain absolute isolation and complete emotional detachment from all around him, which further exacerbates his anxiety, and to rely on wuwei statecraft based on law, Han Fei, nevertheless, stresses the critical importance of the otherwise mediocre ruler’s political agency – the ability to deliberate public matters, make laws that are best suited in the given context, and exercise political judgment in punishing and rewarding his subjects. This article concludes by highlighting the key difference between Han Fei’s conception of wuwei statecraft and its Confucian counterpart.