Is Recep Tayyip Erdogan a
hard-headed fundamentalist? Sure. But he seems to have a bigger problem which may
eventually sap his power. A few years ago I wrote a paper on perhaps the
central paradox of politics – but also in big business or the military . To
rise to the top, “leaders” need to have very, very thick skin and unflagging
determination; and, since good judgment requires apt affective response, such
callousness often undermines their capacity for effective decision-making in crisis
situations. This is what the Turkish prime minister had to say following the
recent mining disaster: “These
are ordinary things. There is
a thing in literature called ‘work accident' ... It happens in other
workplaces, too. Explosions like this in these
mines happen all the time. It's not like these don't happen elsewhere in the
world.” What kind of person can say this,
really?
