About two hours into the film Lincoln, Daniel Day-Lewis stands up and speaks. He rises from the Cabinet table, looming over his colleagues. They are hesitant and divided, unable to outlaw slavery in Congress.
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| 'Buzzards guts, man.' |
Lincoln understood he, as the President, couldn't shape Congress's passing of laws.
But he also understood that being President still gave him large informal powers and levers to influence the final vote.
Such is the philosopher-leader, who recognises the powers and responsibilities that surrounds them, before using them to maximum effect. They aren't always successful, but when they are, their impact is vast. Let's take a closer look.
Philosopher
What is being a 'philosopher-leader'?
To be a philosopher-leader is not the same as 'political philosophy' (which studies core ideas about government and society) though it's not miles away, either.
To be a philosopher-leader (or just 'philosopher') means understanding how your specific role (e.g. Prime Minister, Secretary of State, Prince of Wales) functions, the responsibilities it has, and the power available to it.
Max Weber writes in Politics as a Vocation that one of the key understandings of any effective political leader is that they have 'exclusive personal responsibility' for their actions, and must grasp the sheer weight of the power invested in them.
They can now condemn millions, and save millions more. The unintended consequences of their actions will shape the course of the nation.
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| Responsible for all of them |
So, political leaders must ask themselves, says Weber, '[how] can I hope to do justice to this power...how can I hope to do justice to the responsibility power imposes upon me?'
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| Plato thought philosophers made the best kings Plato was also a philosopher. |
But the leaders who wrestle with them most, and think most deeply about what fulfilling that responsibility ('justice') looks like will have the best understanding of how their role fits into politics and wider society, and its limitations and abilities in both.
They know, therefore, what impact their actions will
have, and how to exercise power most effectively. All that's often needed is a dollop of pragmatism, and
they're capable of making profound change.
In other words, they know what their role is and what it could become.
Step 1) Knowing The Role
We've referred to Abraham Lincoln already. But a modern example of leaders knowing their role and making initial steps is Chinese President Xi Jinping. His authoritarian example contrasts with Lincoln, but is an equally effective case study.
President Xi, who has governed China since 2012, is a relative unknown. We don't know much about how he goes about being President.
We do know, however, thanks to Kevin Rudd, that he has 'a deep sense of his country's and the world's history, and a deeply defined worldview of where he wants to lead his country'.
Xi seems to have a genuine love of Chinese history, a deep pride in his country's future, and a determination that he should be the one to dictate it - 'it's as if he's been planning for [being President] all his life' (Rudd again).
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| President Xi |
We know Xi is using his authority to unify party and government in order to centralise power. and that the survival of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is the #1 aim of the state. To achieve this, he needs to be top dog.
We can see this in his institution of 'Xi Jinping Thought' in the Chinese constitution, an honour equating him with Mao Zedong in public life.
And we can see this in his purges. He has outmanoeuvred dozens of Communist Party leaders, ousted the country's third most senior leader, and felled clutches of top government, party, and military officials.
Power must be centralised for China to ascend and internal opponents cannot be afforded.
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How does Abe's democratic philosopher-leadership compare?
How? Why? Firstly, he justified these autocratic actions as necessary for the Union's survival, justified under war powers. (Though concedes in an early scene that 'no one knows just exactly what those powers are'.)
And in the eponymous film we can see him displaying an incredible depth of understanding about the Presidency, its legal underpinnings, and its opportunities in wartime.
He upgraded the role 'into a powerful new position, making the President supreme over both Congress and the courts', and giving him total control of a wartime economy.
This savvy understanding of how the Presidency functions allowed him to maximise its authority and carry the Union through.
But what stopped him from being a dictator? What reined him in?
'Well the people do that I suppose...I gave them a year and a half to think about it, and they re-elected me.'
The presidency ultimately rests on the people. That insight cuts through the scene and reminds us of the core of the American political system, and just what legitimised this exceptional democratic autocracy. (Though, of course, Lincoln didn't need reminding.)
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| The Gettysburg Address: an exceptional, succinct reflection on the nature of democracy |
Step 2) Having an Impact
This wartime presidential style wouldn't last. The Civil War was followed for decades by largely laissez-faire Presidents who let the country run its own course.
Only after the Wall Street Crash would Presidents again dominate Washington.
However, Lincoln was not an idle thinker with no meaningful impact. His willingness to dig deep into the bowels of the constitution and stretch the Presidency essentially saved the Union, while ending slavery to boot.
In running roughshod over wartime democracy, he preserved its peacetime form, beginning a long American boom that would end with sustained global hegemony. Not bad.
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The impact of Xi's philosophising, however, is a 'what if?' We can't yet know its impact for sure, though some trends are clear.
But he and China's leadership knows achieving this means suppressing 'an array of domestic challenges' thrown up by rapid growth.
This requires the happy centralisation of power he's been embarking on.
By melding party and state together while wiping out opponents he exercises more control over more of Chinese society.
It's probably working, too. Businesses are increasingly kowtowing to the state, perceived Islamist threats in Xinjiang are locked up, and destabilising Hong Kong democrats are crushed.
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| Holiday Camps |
President Xi intends, just like Lincoln, to maximise the power of a presidency in order to restore a country to greatness.
And 'presidential maximisation' means there are no threats to Chinese stability, no alternative power sources that might emerge to unsettle China's ascension.
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That is what the philosopher-leader is capable of doing. They can bring vast power to bear, ruthlessly using their responsibilities and powers to push precedent, exploiting every last sinew of their position in order to achieve great, but terrible things.
Lincoln waged a civil war through his legal understanding of the American presidency and his sharp use of constitution to bat away obstacles.
It cost him and his country dear, but it preserved the Union, ended slavery, and set history on the path towards American hegemony.
Xi is purging China into line, suppressing hints of dissent in order to forge a nation capable of claiming global leadership.
He has patiently and cleverly used various sources of power to cull opponents, concentrating power in the presidency to an extent not seen since Mao, and directing it towards keeping China in line.
Not all philosopher leaders succeed. But those who do are truly formidable.
Theo
'Well, the people do that I suppose'
Lincoln reflecting on his presidential maximisation and use of slippery legality to authorise slaves' freedoms (audio & transcript)
https://www.americanrhetoric.com/MovieSpeeches/moviespeechlincoln13thamendmentdefense.htm
Uncited Resources Used:
https://millercenter.org/president/lincoln/impact-and-legacy (Lincoln)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-41670162 (Xi)
https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/xi_jinping_worldview_bader-1.pdf (Xi)
https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/11/21/xi-jinping-china-communist-party-francois-bougon/ (Xi)
https://asiasociety.org/sites/default/files/2019-01/1.%20Understanding%20China%27s%20Rise%20Under%20Xi%20Jinping_0.pdf (Xi)
https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/testimonies/CT500/CT503/RAND_CT503.pdf (Xi)
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