Proconsul
In the Roman Empire, proconsul was a title held by a civil governor and did not imply military command.
[3] Ancient historians describe Quintus Publilius Philo, the first proconsul, as acting prō consule for 326 BC.
When his term expired at the end of the year, his army was in the midst of besieging the city of Neapolis (modern Naples).
[12][dubious – discuss] In 307 BC, Quintus Fabius Maximus Rullianus, who was consul the previous year, was elected as proconsul to conduct the campaign in Samnium.
In 291 BC Quintus Fabius Maximus Gurges had his command extended and to carry out mop up operations towards the end of the war.
During the Second Punic War (218–201 BC) Scipio Africanus volunteered to lead the second Roman expedition against the Carthaginians in Spain.
[15] Under Lex Sempronia, enacted in 123 BC, the senate determined the allocation of the provinces before the next consular elections.
[16][17] In 81 BC, Sulla added two praetors so that the two proconsuls and six propraetors could be assigned to govern the ten provinces Rome ruled at that time.
[15] Sulla made the governorships annual and required the holder to leave the province within thirty days after the arrival of his successor.
[18] In 67 BC, Pompey received extraordinary powers and an unprecedented multiyear proconsulship to deal with the problem of piracy.
The consuls and proconsuls lost their military authority, but the titles retained considerable prestige.
[22] According to Suetonius: The more important provinces, which could not with ease or safety be entrusted to the government of annual magistrates, [Augustus] reserved for his own administration: the rest he distributed by lot amongst the proconsuls; but sometimes he made exchanges, and frequently visited most of both kinds in person.
[8]Augustus decreed that the governors of the senatorial provinces would receive the title proconsul, regardless of whether they had served as praetor or consul.
"[24] Notitia Dignitatum, an early fifth-century imperial chancery document, mentions three proconsuls but no propraetors.
"[27] South African historian John Benyon defines a proconsul as a leader with "semi-independent and extraordinary capacity to shape the periphery" of an empire.
[1] In his classic study, Max Weber distinguished among three modes of legitimate governance: traditional, rational-legal, and charismatic.
[31] As ruler of Japan and Korea after World War II, U.S. General Douglas MacArthur consciously modeled himself on a Roman aristocrat.
[29] The role of U.S. General David Petraeus and others in Iraq suggests a continued need for proconsular leadership, according to Lord.
But as email and Power Point presentations proliferate, clarity and intellectual discipline is lost.
[33] Another factor is that civilian policymakers, whether on the spot or in the metropole, may lack the skills needed to manage military forces.
Managing a large territory in occupation or conflict requires a range of skills and the ability to deal with various organizations.
During the Vietnam War, the U.S. attempted to deal with this issue by creating an integrated civilian-military command structure called Civil Operations and Revolutionary Development Support (CORDS).
These proconsuls ruled in the age of the transoceanic telegraph, so rapid communication did not end proconsular independence.
