The Politics of Moral Capital

by John Kane

• ISBN13: 9780521663571
• ISBN10: 0521663571
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-09-03
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

It is often said that politics is an amoral realm of power and interest in which moral judgment is irrelevant. In this book, by contrast, John Kane argues that people's positive moral judgments of political actors and institutions provide leaders with an important resource, which he christens 'moral capital'. Negative judgements cause a loss of moral capital which jeopardizes legitimacy and political survival. Studies of several historical and contemporary leaders - Lincoln, de Gaulle, Mandela, Aung San Suu Kyi - illustrate the significance of moral capital for political legitimation, mobilizing support, and the creation of strategic opportunities. In the book's final section, Kane applies his arguments to the American presidency from Kennedy to Clinton. He argues that a moral crisis has afflicted the nation at its mythical heart and has been refracted through and enacted within its central institutions, eroding the moral capital of government and people and undermining the nation's morale.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	viii
Introduction	1	(4)
Part I Moral capital	5	(40)
Moral capital and politics	10	(17)
Moral capital and leadership	27	(18)
Part II Moral capital in times of crisis	45	(68)
Abraham Lincoln: the long-purposed man	50	(33)
Charles De Gaulle: the man of storms	83	(30)
Part III Moral capital and dissident politics	113	(60)
Nelson Mandela: the moral phenomenon	118	(29)
Aung San Suu Kyi: her father's daughter	147	(26)
Part IV Moral capital and the American presidency	173	(82)
Kennedy and American virtue	180	(20)
Crisis	200	(18)
Aftermath	218	(17)
Denouement	235	(20)
Epilogue	255	(6)
Bibliography	261	(9)
Index	270