Their rivalries aside, the competing thinkers sought a common goal of restoring peace and stability. This thought developed in response to a severe systemic crisis of the preceding aristocratic age. This chapter introduces basic aspects of the political thought of the Warring States period. Through my comparative analysis, I will answer the question, what can these three philosophers say regarding the relationship between leadership and the process of statecraft? For this end I will illustrate that each of them focused on different stages of statecraft as a process and when analyzed together, they could show how this process is driven by changes in the nature and role of leadership. In line with existing marginal comparisons between Han Fei and Machiavelli, and Xunzi with the latter, I believe that it is time to learn from a conversation between these three philosophers through a more systematic comparative approach.

I believe that one source of the aforementioned diversity are the political philosophies that were translated into practical principles adopted by state-builders. The rise, development, and fall of Western and Eastern states are evidently distinct from each other, thus, making the literature on contemporary theories of state into a rich collection of studies exposing patterns that binds and differentiates these cases with each other.

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