Statesmanship Attributes and Application, Pseudo-Statesmanship, and Machiavellianism

Articulating Your Statesmanship
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Articulating Your Statesmanship
In the contemporary world characterized by individuals with selfish desires and those with genuine aspirations of serving the public, it is difficult to determine the person with good intentions. Politics is the backbone of everything in many nations today and control all actions. The situation is worse in capitalist nations, in which politicians are puppets to some powerful individuals whose main agenda is to fleece the public of its resources. These individuals sponsor politicians to act as statesmen and gain the favor of the public and after being voted in office, they do not serve the people who elected them but only focus on their interests and those of their sponsors.
Statesmanship
Statesmanship refers to morally excellent leadership at the polity level. History remembers great individuals in politics who passed the test for being state leaders owing to their leadership traits in times of war and crisis. Examples of such individual’s include Lincoln, Churchill, and DE Gaulle (Overeem & Bakker, 2019). The concept is used universally to refer to both male and females. Its association with males emanates from the fact that the concept if versed on the principles of the art of government and at the time of formulation of the term, there were no women who were active in conducting business of a government or in shaping politics. Thus, the term statesman mainly refers to a wise and respected political leader. The meaning of the term is frequently expressed during a crisis, where the people demand to have an individual with their interests at heart. There is an increasing desire to bring back the attention to an individual political agency. The people yearn for the times when individuals stood firm in their principles to fight injustice in the society. Sadly, modern political leaders do not present such a picture to the population. Most people perceive these leaders as hypocritical in nature based on their tendency to behave as though they care about the society at the time of campaigns but after elections, they revert to their old nature.
There is a thin difference between leadership and statesman. In most people’s eyes, both are leaders because they are charged with advancing and guiding people. The simple difference between these two terms is that a leader is any person that heads a team or a group of people whereas as states man is an individual who heads national or international affairs. Terry Newell presented a model in his book titled Statesmanship, Character, and Leadership in America. The author highlights six different factors that determine the quality of statesmanship that leaders are gauged. He notes that each of the six factors are equally important and hence do not have any specific order of preference. The first factor is the political context in which the public assesses a leader’s actions. The second factor is the leader’s character, which involves a combination of several features that include self-criticism, virtue, and leadership. The next three factors include the set of skills that the author notes every successful statesman must develop. They include: a transcendent purpose, a mastery of the art of politics, and an ability to persuade and compel support. These traits are shown in the figure below.
The final component, according to the author, is the leader’s ability to shape the nation’s character. He notes that unless people arise and accept the leader’s moral vision, statesmanship remains to be, in Langston Hughes’s words, “a dream deferred.” Despite the fact that Newell’s model was mainly designed with the American public in mind, its assumptions are applicable to the rest of the nations around the world.
Attributes of Statesmanship
Besides Newell’s defining characteristics, statesmanship can be defined using several other methods or features. They can be defined based on their moral compass, their communicative effectiveness, covenant relationship, statecraft, and many other features.
Moral Compass
Moral compass refers to an individual’s potential to judge the right and wrong act according to their values and principles that satisfy the social ethics. Such people focus on doing what is right at the expense of seeking popularity. McKay and McKay (2012) posit that a statesman is not governed by public opinion polls but bases his decisions on his own moral compass, which prioritizes the right over wrong. Such individuals are not relativist and in case they think that something is wrong, they do not hesitate to inform the people about it and goes an extra distance to fight it. On the contrary, whenever the person feels that something is right, he does everything possible to overcome any opposition to preserve it. While a statesman is ambitious, whose main goal is to obtain power, they have principles and will not violate them for the sake of power.
Vision
A vision refers to the ability to think about and plan the future with wisdom or a great sense of imagination. According to McKay and McKay (2012), a statesman has a clear vision of what his people and nation should become. He understands the strengths and weaknesses of his people and has a clear image of where he wants them to be and what will get them there. A defining characteristic of statesmen is foresight because the individual has to be able to recognize the challenges in the horizon and seek a solution that covers both the short term and the long term. The statesman does not only focus on the current moment, but is also concerned about the future generations. Martin Luther King Jr. is an excellent example of a visionary leader as he not only had the ability to see, but also to articulate and present to the people a vision of a future that was far from what the present held. Visionary leaders are inspirational as they make the people think and crave for the future.
Communicative Effectiveness
Communicative effectiveness refers to one’s ability to successfully communicate messages to the subject. Statesmen are excellent communicators as they use these communicative skills to deliver a vision to their people. Great leaders recognized as states men had excellent communication skills as it enabled them to pass their passage to the public. Like other leaders, statesmen have to communicate their vision and goals to the people to motivate them towards a given direction. The individual communicates in a manner that makes the people see the message that he is trying to put across.
Covenant Relationship
A covenant relationship refers to a chosen relationship or partnership where the two parties involved in the relationship make binding promises to each other and collaborate towards attaining a common goal. Covenantal leadership is framed on the concept of the Old Testament’s theme of a shared community. A defining feature of covenant leadership is the interconnection of lives and the fact that one’s responsibilities cover a larger society and has a range of moral responsibilities that have to be fulfilled. According to Caldwell and Hasan (2016), covenant leadership is at the heart of Pava’s philosophy, which emphasizes that covenants are open-ended and emphasize on mutual responsibility. Similarly, statesmanship focuses on how the people will benefit from a given exercise, rather than the procedure that only benefits a specific group. Pava also states that covenant leadership is long-term in nature, which is also a defining characteristic of statesmen as they focus on the long term benefits of the society. Finally Pava posits that the covenants are respectful of human integrity. This is also espoused by in statesmanship, in which such leaders prioritize human integrity.
Statecraft
Statecraft refers to one’s understand of different aspects of government operations, such as the eart of war, peacemaking, public diplomacy, strategic influence, economic strategy, and intelligence. Statesmen understand all these aspects, which makes them unique and appealing to the public. They know how and when to implore peace and also understand cases that require one to use an element of force. They understand the economics of a nation and are able to present their ideas on how to build the economy. Their intelligence and counterintelligence allows them to hold effective discussions with the people understand their needs and expectations, and provide them with solutions to the said problems. In the event that the leader lacks an immediate solution, he is able to convince the people to be patient as the individual leads the process to establish a solution. Therefore, statesmen have an art of statecraft, in which they understand the government operations and those of that of their people.
Application
The above characteristics are exhibited by most of the leaders honored for their statesmanship. George Washington and Henry Clay are some of the notable statesmen that the United States has had. These leaders exhibited the above characteristics of selflessness and desire to serve the public over their personal interests.
George Washington
The American public that includes the general public and the scholars all recognize Washington as a soldier, statesman, and a Founding Father, who served as United States’ first president from 1789 to 1797. He played an essential role in forming the Continental Army during the American Revolution and also played an essential role in drafting the country’s constitutions. His moral sense was the compass of his both his public and private life. Washington understood that for...