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The Democratic LeaderHow Democracy Defines, Empowers and Limits its Leaders$
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The Democratic Leader: How Democracy Defines, Empowers and Limits its Leaders

John Kane and Haig Patapan

Print publication date: 2012

Print ISBN-13: 9780199650477

Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: May 2012

DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199650477.001.0001

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PRINTED FROM OXFORD SCHOLARSHIP ONLINE (oxford.universitypressscholarship.com). (c) Copyright Oxford University Press, 2021. All Rights Reserved. An individual user may print out a PDF of a single chapter of a monograph in OSO for personal use. date: 07 March 2021

The Moral Dilemma of Democratic Leadership

The Moral Dilemma of Democratic Leadership

Chapter:
(p.49) 3 The Moral Dilemma of Democratic Leadership
Source:
The Democratic Leader
Author(s):

John Kane

Haig Patapan

Publisher:
Oxford University Press
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199650477.003.0004

Democracy is held to be the most honest and open form of government, yet democratic citizens typically feel that their leaders are seldom completely truthful. This chapter explores in depth this commonplace paradox. Part of the issue is that democracies want a moral leader who will also do whatever is needed for the sake of the sovereign people. The tension between the moral and the necessary proves to be an intractable problem for democracies, and gives rise to the persistent dilemma of hypocrisy for democratic leaders.

Keywords:   morality, ethics, lies, hypocrisy

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