The myth of the strong leader. The case of Vladimir Putin

Send us Fan MailThe bloodshed in Ukraine continues, creativity in negotiation has been replaced by mindless slaughter. Tudor returns to a classic book, The Myth of the Strong Leader  examines how so-called strong leaders such as Vladimir Putin lose their capacity for creative responses to the situations they have helped create.Its author, Professor Archie Brown, is one of the most distinguished political scientists of his age. He has been recognised after fifty years of diplomatic efforts in The Queen’s honours list ‘for services to UK-Russian relations and to the study of political science and international affairs’.As he writes at the outset of the book, a strong leader ‘is generally taken to mean a leader who concentrates a lot of power in his or her hands’.  He goes on to explain the myth in the title of the book. ‘The idea that the more power one individual wields the more we should be impressed by that leader is, I shall argue an illusion’as Brown puts it ‘Self-consciously strong leaders … have a tendency over time to become still more impressed by their own judgement  … they also tend to be afraid of nothing so much as being perceived to be weak or to have shown weakness’ This helps explain how such so-called strong leaders lose their capacity producing for creative responses to the situations they have helped create. Stay up-to-date with all of Tudor's podcasts, blogs and current affairs commentary by signing up to our newsletter! Email [email protected] to sign up!Follow Tudor on Twitter @TudortweetFollow Tudor's blogs:everydaycreativity.ukleaderswedeserve.wordpress.com