"There are many qualities desirable in a political leader that should matter more than the criterion of strength, one better suited to judging weightlifters or long-distance runners."
Archie Brown, The Myth of the Strong Leader, 2014
About Me
- CyberKitten
- I have a burning need to know stuff and I love asking awkward questions.
3 comments:
terse and true...
Strength is an ambiguous word, though. We can use it to refer to different qualities in a person -- even different physical qualities! One person might be a strong sprinter, but another a strong endurance runner. A person can have a strong character, or their personality can convey authority and leadership. People DO want strength in leaders -- whether its moral strength like Gandhi or inspirational strength like Churchill -- but that desire is sometimes expressed in the most vulgar way, as it is now in DC.
@ Stephen: By 'strength' the author meant 'a leader who concentrates a lot of power in his/her own hands, dominates both a wide swath of public policy and the political party to which they belong and takes the big decisions'.
So basically the more personal power they have/take and the more they use this power without reference to others the 'stronger' they are often perceived to be....
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