Proconsul - Modern Analogy

Modern Analogy

In modern speech, the term is sometimes anachronistically used of men who held great political power over large colonial territories at the time of the British Empire's greatest extent. Examples included Alfred Milner (South Africa), Lord Curzon (India), Lord Lugard in Africa and Lord Kitchener (Egypt & the Sudan). Some of these were or went on to be important political figures at home in Britain.

It also occurred that, during the British Empire, sometimes proconsuls manifested peripheral activism versus the metropolitan restraint from London. For example, British representatives at Rio and Buenos Aires during the Uruguayan civil wars of the 1820s and 1840s often went beyond their official instructions, the latter facilitated by slow and unsure transatlantic communications.

A leader appointed by a foreign power during military occupation is sometimes also described as a proconsul. One example was Gotara Ogawa during the Japanese occupation of Burma (1942 - 1945), another, US general Douglas MacArthur who held great influence in the Philippines in the 1930s and was referred to as the Proconsul of Japan after World War II. More recently, the Wall Street Journal described the Coalition Provisional Authority as a "modern proconsul".

The term has also been used as a disparagement towards individuals, especially ambassadors, who have attempted to influence the governments of foreign countries. In one instance, former Canadian cabinet minister Lloyd Axworthy called former United States ambassador to Canada Paul Cellucci "the U.S. ambassador-turned-proconsul" in an opinion piece in the April 29, 2003 Globe and Mail newspaper. Axworthy's comments were in response to Cellucci's frequent warnings to the Canadian government on domestic policy matters (such as the decriminalization of marijuana) which were often perceived by Canadians as threats.