Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Thursday, March 28th, 2024

Political Leadership

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Political Leadership

Leadership is a necessary social phenomenon. In a society different people live together, with different habits, attitudes, ideas and interests and yet have to be organized for some common purpose or common goal of life, there leaders will necessarily arise. Nothing can be acquired if there is no organization; but organization creates leaders and the led. Leadership basically means the hierarchical or organizational supremacy of a person or group of persons. The leaders give unity of purpose to a large number of people by organizing them into a single whole for the achievement of certain definite purposes or ideals, whether of the leaders or of the followers or of both. The nature of purposes and ideals determines the nature of leadership. A political leader is one who occupies such a position in a party so as to exercise more influence upon activities, purposes or programs than any other of its members.
The phenomenon of leadership in politics and state is not a simple one. It is influenced by several factors – psychological, social, political and historical. The psychological factors are the personality, the intellectual qualities, the moral spirit and valor, imagination, clear vision, will-to-power, perseverance, or the gift of discipline. Thus leadership depends upon qualities of head and heart and also of hand, especially in the past ages when men had to fight or cut their way with their swords to the front. Among the social factors are the habits and customs, beliefs and attitudes of the people, their social relations and organizations. The political factors are the nature and structure of the state, the laws and the rights and liberties granted by the laws or aspired by the people, the kind and organization of political parties and the political ideas, attitudes and philosophies which prevail among them. The historical conditions are the conditions of war or peace, victory or defeat, social system and social evolution or the progress in culture and civilization and the problems and dangers which confront the nation and the country at home and abroad in the past and present. All these factors and forces will determine the kind of political leadership that will arise in a country and at a particular period in its history. A people have always a kind of leaders in deserves.
There are, however, various kinds of leaders; party leaders, parliamentary or legislative leaders, executive or administrative leaders and above all the builders of state, such as statesmen, prophets, or revolutionaries and visionaries. The party, parliamentary and administrative leaderships are of routine and usual type, while the statesmen, prophets, revolutionaries and visionaries are rare phenomena which may change the destiny of their nations.
The increasing rigidity of party organization, discipline and control is both the cause and effect of the rise of leaders in the modern political parties. Modern parties are mass organizations. They seek to enroll and enlist as many people as its members and supporters as possible. In order to win elections effectively, manage government and solve the problems confronting the state, the party must be led by someone who can achieve these ends. He becomes the party leader. He is its spokesmen before the people. He explains and defends its policies and programs to them. He shows the party the way to victory.  He cannot, however, dominate it. A good party leader is not its boss but its spokesmen. His function is to give voice to the aims and ideals for which the party stands. He is aptly described as ‘an uncommon man of common opinions’.
Government is basically a leadership phenomenon. It consists of the rulers and the leaders. Like every other machinery, governmental machinery needs a man at the steering wheel. Whatever may be said of the state in theory, in practice it means the government, which means a group of persons whose decisions are legally binding on the community. But government is a complex machinery, consisting of three distinct parts – the legislature, the executive and the administrative departments. Each part requires different types of leaders as each one has its own distinct nature, purpose and functions.
The selection of political leaders is effected differently in different states. In parliamentary democracy, it is made through popular election as well as the work in the legislature. The first test of a political leader is the election. But the real test is his skill and superiority as revealed in facing the questions and criticism in the parliament, where he faces a watchful opposition. In popular elections, a mere ‘showman’ or an ‘orator’ might succeed. But when he stands to address the parliament, he may soon be deflated, for it tests not his skill in public speaking but also his ability in handling technical, personal and political issues under the gaze of an opposition which will exploit any sign of weakness or failure. Those who survive this test become the real political leaders of the government. For this selective reason, the cabinet system with parliamentary responsibility of the ministers and two-party system is found to be the best means of choosing government leaders.
Then among the political leaders are the bed-rock of the government, the administrators, who run the administrative departments. Whereas the governmental leaders need initiative, imagination, vision and a spirit of innovation, the administrative officers need qualities of routine, specialization and integration. They are adept in their own fields. They must be men of acumen an intelligence. Good administrators are men of wide social understanding and intellectual vigor. They are capable of finding the best method to transfer legislative policy into administrative practice.

Dilawar Sherzai is the permanent writer of the Daily Outlook Afghanistan. He can be reached at email.urya@gmail.com

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