When the writer views politics as the art of government he mentions the negative view of politics due to its association with the activities of political leaders. While it may be true that politicians do not conform to the highest moral standards but it is also true that leadership does not always have to be moral to be effective.
Like Dr.Mooed Yusuf said in his recent Dawn article “The ones(politicians) the system allows in are those willing to abide by the rules of a praetorian state”
People in general but more so in the Subcontinent are forever on the lookout for a messiah who will spare them from all their inconveniences. This view of politics and politicians is naive at best. The people need to realize that moral leadership is hard to come by and in an entrenched political system like ours, its a rarity. In Pakistan instead of waiting for a savior , the public needs to choose the most effective leader in the existing pool of politicians. We do not need to look far to see that effective leadership sans moral authority can also reap positive results. Narendra Modi of India is by no means a moral leader but he was successful in turning around the province of Gujarat and greatly improving the condition of its inhabitants due to his effective leadership.
1 comment:
Dissociating morality with political leadership is a realist argument. I concur that we need to choose the best leaders available to us, but I disagree that we have to divorce morality from how we select our leaders. Leaders should be held to an exceptionally high standard in order for we the people to have faith in them. But given the lack of "moral" leaders in Pakistan today, I guess hoping for the best technocrat regardless of morality is trade-off we may have to make. Although I wish it was not a mutually exclusive issue!
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