I am confused. I loathe much of the world’s current political discourse led by the likes of Trump, Putin, Xi, Erdogan, to name but a few, but are these quasi demagogues more effective than reasonable leaders?
Xi, who is now ‘President for Life’, is busily rooting out corruption, building the economy and the prerequisite military, accompanied by a few new islands in the South China Sea. Putin invaded Crimea, takes out troublesome opponents, plays social media beautifully to wrong foot his overseas enemies and is heading to become Russia’s longest serving leader since Stalin. Erdogan is assuming an executive presidency of unprecedented power in modern day Turkey. Thousands of political opponents are jailed but the infrastructure and, with it, the wealth and the middle class in Turkey are currently expanding rapidly.
And Trump…Well what can we say? A record breaking tax reduction, peace with North Korea (?). Will tearing up the Iran nuclear settlement now also bring Iran to heel? Umm…
Reasonable leaders, of course, do get more things done. It just takes time and in an age of populism, people are particularly impatient. Perhaps more importantly such leaders provide a framework for the rule of law and a level of public discourse that civilises human interaction, ultimately benefitting all of us but particularly the poorest in societies.
In contrast, let’s just look at the evidence behind the bold actions of some of those unreasonable leaders. Putin is impoverishing his nation. Russian economic growth fell for three years in a row to 2017 and is permanently weak. Displays of military might hide an ailing country, shorn of any economic and democratic progress. It is no longer a super power in any sense. Xi and Erdogan, like Putin, free from even peer group accountability, are storing up ‘cult of personality issues’ which could potentially and ultimately overwhelm any economic success.
As for Trump, he lies, cheats and corrodes public discourse. The deficit is expanding rapidly due to those tax cuts. He withdraws America from much of the world stage leaving it to others, turns his back on global warming and stirs tensions in the Middle East. He is shrinking his country, not making it great.
Reasonable leaders such as Obama, Merkel, Macron and indeed most leading politicians in the democratic West have achieved much. They understand/understood the complexities of their roles and the long term consequences of bowing too far to short term populism. They are held to account and are a civilising influence in public life, with all the long term benefits that brings.
It is soft power that counts in the end. Reasonable leaders do get things done and done well. It just takes time. Unreasonable leaders can get things done and done quickly but often with terrible longer term consequences. Of course, they will have left the stage by then.
Inside Right Politics 