Authoritarianism, Anti-imperialism, and Intervention: The Precariousness of the Middle Ground

Abstract

At a high level of generality, the notion that it is valuable to search for the middle ground has a long and distinguished history. For Aristotle, the so-called ‘golden mean’ is the desirable middle way between two extremes (thus, he would argue, courage is the opposite both of cowardice and of recklessness); and similar ideas can be found in other traditions. The idea of the middle ground can also be fruitful at the more mundane level of political and social systems—thus, social democracy clearly occupies a kind of middle ground between unfettered capitalism and state socialism. In the realm of international theory, it is also sometimes possible to identify a middle way; members of the English School (ES) believe that their key organizing concept, International Society, can be seen as the product of two oppositions—between the notions of an international system and an international community, although whether this particular middle way is desirable or not is contested (Brown 1995, 2010).