Can someone explain how you can come to appreciate, respect, and expect a strongman as leader in your society. I prefer rule by The People. The Declaration of Independence does support this interpretation of events as recorded in our governmental structures as set in the Constitution. I would like to try to understand how a strongman is preferable as leader. Thanks.
Aspiring strongmen are good at identifying social maladies that, if they were to be solved, could generate enough support to enable their perpetual rule. The fact that their "solutions" end up involving the trampling of legal, constitutional, and human rights fades into insignificance for many people, at least initially. Once the strongman is firmly in power, even if a critical mass of people have reservations about empowering an authoritarian, it's too late to do much about it as the strongman has consolidated power.
After 24 hours, glad to see Berny stepped in to respond to Teresa's question. There appears to be a fair amount of writing on and study of why people "appreciate, respect, and expect a strongman" as a leader...unfortunately, Berny offers only that "they are good at identifying social maladies." I can’t recall if this issue has been addressed in the UnPopulist…but, if not, it should be. Typically, it’s acknowledged that when collectivities believe they are threatened they will turn to strongman and, yes, populist leaders; it is playing out in Argentina today. Other forces, of course, come into play such as history, culture, religion, demographics, politics…all of which likely play a role in the situation unfolding in Indonesia. There is plenty of information available regarding the circumstances of populist movements in other nations that could help us set in relief and understand what is transpiring with such movements in our own country (referring here to the United States); I would encourage folks at the UnPopulist to pursue this important line of inquiry.
I offered a comment reply, not a monograph, on the subject. And I focused on a strongman's ability to "identify a social malady" and use his rights-trampling "solution" as a technique to establish an initial and sufficiently durable base of support because that's a model we're seeing today play out in various contexts—from Duterte in the Philippines to Bukele in El Salvador.
But, yes, I agree that this is a topic very much worth exploring at greater levels of depth.
Can someone explain how you can come to appreciate, respect, and expect a strongman as leader in your society. I prefer rule by The People. The Declaration of Independence does support this interpretation of events as recorded in our governmental structures as set in the Constitution. I would like to try to understand how a strongman is preferable as leader. Thanks.
Aspiring strongmen are good at identifying social maladies that, if they were to be solved, could generate enough support to enable their perpetual rule. The fact that their "solutions" end up involving the trampling of legal, constitutional, and human rights fades into insignificance for many people, at least initially. Once the strongman is firmly in power, even if a critical mass of people have reservations about empowering an authoritarian, it's too late to do much about it as the strongman has consolidated power.
After 24 hours, glad to see Berny stepped in to respond to Teresa's question. There appears to be a fair amount of writing on and study of why people "appreciate, respect, and expect a strongman" as a leader...unfortunately, Berny offers only that "they are good at identifying social maladies." I can’t recall if this issue has been addressed in the UnPopulist…but, if not, it should be. Typically, it’s acknowledged that when collectivities believe they are threatened they will turn to strongman and, yes, populist leaders; it is playing out in Argentina today. Other forces, of course, come into play such as history, culture, religion, demographics, politics…all of which likely play a role in the situation unfolding in Indonesia. There is plenty of information available regarding the circumstances of populist movements in other nations that could help us set in relief and understand what is transpiring with such movements in our own country (referring here to the United States); I would encourage folks at the UnPopulist to pursue this important line of inquiry.
This is needlessly passive-aggressive.
I offered a comment reply, not a monograph, on the subject. And I focused on a strongman's ability to "identify a social malady" and use his rights-trampling "solution" as a technique to establish an initial and sufficiently durable base of support because that's a model we're seeing today play out in various contexts—from Duterte in the Philippines to Bukele in El Salvador.
But, yes, I agree that this is a topic very much worth exploring at greater levels of depth.