Charisma and History

2021 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-101
Author(s):  
Robert I. Rotberg

Abstract Because charisma is a social phenomenon, not an individual trait, its analytical utility in assessing and evaluating the quality and character of political leadership remains questionable. Cultural differences influence the traits and attributes that are internalized by one set of followers and not others. At the nation-state level, political leaders do arise who mesmerize their constituents charismatically, but too frequently that appeal is episodic, transient, and easily forfeited. Most of all, successful political leadership is more than behaving charismatically; delivering results in the form of economic growth, educational advances, health and medical services, and national self-respect are more important and more lasting. David Bell brings all of those considerations to the fore in a remarkable book that analyzes the charismatic appeals of Washington, Napoleon, Louverture, Paoli, and Bolivar, and raises important questions about the force of charisma in history.

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 385-398
Author(s):  
Valentyna Goshovska ◽  
Lydiia Danylenko ◽  
Iryna Dudko ◽  
Liliia Makarenko ◽  
Nadiia Maksimentseva

The transition of Ukraine to democracy requires studying the experience of forming political leaders in developing countries. In particular, political leadership, in particular, the values, ideology, and policies of the leader, determine the level of democracy in a country. The results of the research provide evidence of the impact of political leadership on democratization and economic growth. It has been established that leadership determines the values and priorities for the development of political and economic systems as well as democratization has a positive effect on economic growth under the condition of an open economy, unity, and solidarity of the principles of leaders within the party and the opposition. The growth of opposition protests and the conservatism of political leaders leads to a decrease in the level of political culture, civil liberties, and the effectiveness of the government’s actions. As a result, the level of economic development declines.


1979 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 303-322 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Alexis Gourevitch

Recent challenges to the unity of the nation-state in advanced industrial societies have surprised most of us. Scotland, Quebec, Flanders, Occitania, bCatalonia and other regions have made life more interesting politically and more confusing intellectually. While the emergence of ethnic consciousness, or concern with ethnic identity, appears nearly universal across Europe and North America (or indeed around the globe)nationalist movements—demands for autonomy or outright separation—are not equally strong: the nationalism of the Scots, the Basques, Catalans, Croats, Flemish, and Quebecois is far more powerful than that of the Alsatians, Bretons, South Italians, and the Occitents.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yusniliyana Yusof ◽  
Kaliappa Kalirajan

PurposeThe study contributes to the aim of regional development policy in reducing regional disparities, by examining the spatial balance in socioeconomic development across the states of Malaysia based on composite development index (CDI). Besides, the study has attempted to understand the issues in the development gaps across Malaysian states by evaluating the factors that explain the variation in economic growthDesign/methodology/approachThis study uses three-stage least squares (3SLS) and bootstrap sampling and estimation techniques to examine the factors that explain the variations in the growth of development across the states in Malaysia. The analysis involves 13 states in Malaysia (Johor, Melaka, Negeri Sembilan, Pulau Pinang, Perak, Perlis, Selangor, Kedah, Kelantan, Pahang, Terengganu, Sabah and Sarawak) from 2005 to 2015.FindingsThe pattern in the spatial socioeconomic imbalance demonstrates a decreasing trend. However, the development index reveals that the performance of less developed states remained behind that of the developed states. The significant factors in explaining the variation in growth across the Malaysian states are relating to agriculture, manufacturing, human capital, population growth, Chinese ethnicity, institutional factors and natural resources.Research limitations/implicationsThe authors focused on Malaysian states over the period between 2005 and 2015. The authors encountered some limitations in obtaining relevant data such as international factors and technological change that might also explain the variation in economic growth as the data on these variables are not reported at the state level. Moreover, the data on GSDP by sector was only available from the year 2005. Second, the study is based on secondary data. Future studies might examine the factors that contribute to the development gap across Malaysian states through interviews or questionnaires and compare the findings with the existing results. Despite its limitations, this study contributes to the existing literature that emphasizes on spatial balance of socioeconomic in a developing country, focusing on Malaysian states.Practical implicationsThese findings provide guidance for policymakers by understanding key potential areas to reduce the disparity in economic growth across Malaysian states by understanding their impact on the growth.Originality/valueThis study employs different method of 3SLS and bootstrap sampling and estimation techniques in examining the factors that explain the variations in the growth of development across the states in Malaysia.


Author(s):  
Joanie Bouchard

Abstract Research into the impact of a politician's sociodemographic profile on vote choice in Westminster-style systems has been hindered by the relative sociodemographic homogeneity of party leaders. Past research has focused mainly on the evaluation of local candidates in the American context, but given that elections in plurality systems are far less candidate-oriented , the evaluation of local candidates tells us little about the prevalence of affinity or discrimination in other contexts. This article investigates the effect of political leaders' ethnicity on political behavior by looking at the case of Jagmeet Singh in Canada, the first federal party leader of color in the country's history. While the literature has shown that the gender of leaders in Canada can matter, little is known about the attitudes of Canadians toward party leaders of color specifically. We are interested in the evaluations of Singh and his party, as well as the shifts in voting intentions between elections in 2015 and 2019. We uncover affinity-based behaviors from individuals who identify as Sikh, as well as a negative reception of Singh's candidacy in Quebec.


Author(s):  
N. A. Mozumder

AbstractThis article presents findings from a qualitative study (via in-depth interviews with 121 local political leaders from 65 local authorities in the UK) that aims to understand how ethical leadership practices can restore public trust in political leaders. The study finds that being a moral person, an ethical political leader sets good examples of behaviour, sets the tone at the top and challenges those who do not behave ethically, as well as encourages, supports and rewards those who perform and conduct themselves well. As a result, the level of public trust in political leaders is likely to increase gradually.


2003 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clive Edwards

The objective of this paper is to analyse key elements of the development strategy of Singapore since the mid–1960s. The paper describes the economic challenge faced by Singapore in the mid–1960s, overviews contemporary world trends in foreign direct investment, and uses competitiveness constructs developed by Michael Porter (1985) to clarify key stages in the evolution of Singapore's development strategy. The paper argues that the strategy has been successful because of unremitting top priority given to it by Singapore's political leadership and because the political leaders charged a single organisation, the Economic Development Board (EDB), with absolute authority to develop and implement the strategy. The paper concludes with implications for Queensland's Smart State initiatives.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mike Szymanski ◽  
Ivan Valdovinos ◽  
Evodio Kaltenecker

Purpose This study aims to examine the relationship between cultural distances between countries and their scores in the Corruption Perception Index (CPI), which is the most commonly used measure of corruption in international business (IB) research. Design/methodology/approach The authors applied fixed-effect (generalized least squares) statistical modeling technique to analyze 1,580 year-country observations. Findings The authors found that the CPI score is determined to a large extent by cultural distances between countries, specifically the distance to the USA and to Denmark. Research limitations/implications CPI is often used as a sole measure of state-level corruption in IB research. The results show that the measure is significantly influenced by cultural differences and hence it should be applied with great caution, preferably augmented with other measures. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to look at cultural distances as determinants of CPI score. The authors empirically test whether the CPI is culturally biased.


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