'A good leader must always look beyond the needs of his or her country.' Do you agree? (2003)

Common mistakes

• 'A good leader MUST ALWAYS look beyond the needs of his or her country.‘

• not about identifying different qualities of leaders and whether one of the qualities required is looking beyond the needs of the country

• Identify the (basic) needs: Survival. Safety.

• Look beyond needs… to what?• Question allows you to define that for yourself• Doesn’t necessarily mean looking beyond own

country’s needs to needs of other countries

Good leader

• Context: political leaders of nations (for the sake of convenience)

• Definition: goals not limited to self; concerns the larger good, vision for country

• Duty to nation first then to the wider context– Influence, followers–  Wiki: "process of social influence in

which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task”

ALWAYS Looking beyond the needs of his/her own country

• Considering the greater good– Beyond individual needs of nations

• Broader perspective – Local to international

• Foresight- plan further– Deeper issues

• Long-term perspective– Current to future

• The real leader has no need to lead--he is content to point the way.Henry Miller

Back to the question.

• Is this ALWAYS true? • Should good leaders have visions

concerning the world e.g. world soli-darity and peace

• Does this disqualify and discount the efforts of national leaders like Gandhi and Martin Luther King, for directing their efforts to helping their nation?

Thesis statement

• A good political leader must have global concerns– Particularly in today’s world

• But this is not his first priority. – Nation’s well-being– Social contract when elected into government– Running the country– Implementing policies for the country’s interest

• Selfish perspective a necessary one. Duty to country first.

1) Responsibility and duty

• A leader is answerable to the people of his own nation since they are the one who elect him and entrust him the responsibility of taking care of their welfare.

• Social contract

Quotes

• It is absurd that a man should rule others, who cannot rule himself. (Absurdum est ut alios regat, qui seipsum regere nescit.) Latin Proverb

• Let him who would be moved to convince others, be first moved to convince himself.Thomas Carlyle

Iran

• Mahmoud Ahmadinejad– Prime minister of Iran

• largely ignoring Iran’s domestic problems, like stagnant economy, widespread violence

• Striving hard to glorify his country on the world stage.

• Cannot be termed as a good leader since he is SIDE-LINING THE PROBLEMS of the very people who elected him to that post.

South Africa

• In contrast, Nelson Mandela was a good leader.

• Successfully liberated his people from foreign domination

• Entered the world stage to preach world solidarity and safeguarding of human rights.

• Exemplifies a moral integrity that shines far beyond SA despite only leading SA

Korea and America

• US beef imports: 2008 US beef protest in South Korea – South Korea – United States relations – Closure of the South Korean market to US beef imports upon

the discovery of a US case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in 2003

– President’s attempt to reopen the Korean market to US beef in 2008 led protests due to the threat of mad cow disease

– Demonstrations were the country's largest anti-government protests in 20 years

• FIRST CONCERN: Own countrymen• Take care of needs of own country first before looking

into other concerns

THEREFORE.

A good leader should strive to solve domestic problems before going global.

resolve country’s own needs first

• BUT. • No benchmark to determine exactly

how much of the country’s needs leaders have to address needs before looking beyond

2) Urgent domestic con-cerns

• Self-interests come first• Poverty, natural disasters, • Economic downturn and slump why

bail out other countries when own country is suffering economically

• Takes precedence over world issues• Resources concentrated to helping

own citizens, especially in hard times

• Focus on the needs of the country fist

World War 2

• Nationality conflicts in east-central Europe, provoked by a German drive for continental hegemony

• Expanded into a global conflict • Battle zones touched almost every continent. • Total nature of World War II surpassed that of

1914–18 • Civilian populations contributed to the war

effort, became direct targets of aerial attack

WW2: Domestic Concerns (all coun-tries e.g. France, Thailand)

• Times of trouble • Resources spent to help civilian population

survive–War rations– Electricity supplies– Propaganda

• Send help/troops but ultimately self-inter-ests prevail Cater to needs of own country first: takes precedence over world issues

• Despite ongoing war

ANTI-THESIS:

why good leaders MUST AL-WAYS look beyond needs of their own nations

1) Global citizens• Shift to GLOBAL citizens• See beyond to role on global stage• Help neighbours and other countries in need

• Humanitarian networks• International aid– Recent examples: Haiti earthquake– Fukushima nuclear incident– 2004 Pacific Tsunami

• Receive similar help when we need it• Depend on other countries for resources

2) Diplomatic Ties

• Looking beyond own country estab-lish good relationships

• Development of the region– Establish ties– Promote understanding, peace, prosper-

ity– Economic development e.g. free trade

agreements

• Also aids in country’s development

Greece- bailed out by EU

• Most indebted country in the world• Countries unhappy with having to

bail out Greece esp. Germany• Preserve the value of the euro• By 2014, based on estimates by

Economy Watch's Econ Stats database, Greek debt will reach 150 per cent of GDP from about 125 per cent in 2010, surpassing even Japan.

Greek Default

• Greek default will, of course, be bad for Europe and will not make Greece many friends on the continent

• Lead to financial difficulties, even potentially to a default, of a couple of European banks that have large exposure to the Greek debt.

• Bail out Greece Averting major social unrest and possible economic collapse in entire EU

3) International Responsibili-ties

• Leaders in the international arena• United States of America– World’s foremost economic and mil-

itary power

• Good leaders look towards the future • United Nations• Leaders not of countries but of inter-

national organisations

Evaluation/Conclusion

• Reiterate stand: Duty to solve problems at home before showing altruism abroad

• A good leader is defined by much more than the presence of a global perspective– "Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into

reality.“ -Warren G. Bennis – "There are three essentials to leadership: humility,

clarity and courage."Chan Master Fuchan Yuan 

• Not about WHERE you look to lead but how, why you lead, who you help

• Service first to the country

Thank you!