A Dangerous Passion

Leadership and the Question of Honor

Haig Patapan author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:State University of New York Press

Published:2nd Jan '22

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

A Dangerous Passion cover

A Dangerous Passion argues that leadership and honor are mutually constitutive and that this dynamic relationship fundamentally shapes the character of political practice. Haig Patapan shows how our contemporary blindness to this leadership-honor dynamic and neglect of the significance of honor (and shame) in modern politics have caused us to fundamentally misunderstand the nature of leadership. We have lost sight of how honor shapes the ambitions and aspirations of those who seek political office, and the opportunities and limits it imposes on leaders when engaging with their followers. What has been obscured are the two faces of honor: how it is the dangerous passion that fuels the ambitions of the glory seekers to pursue tyranny and empire, as well as being the source of good leadership that is founded on noble ambition and sacrifice for the common good. Patapan examines classical magnanimity, Machiavellian glory, and Hobbesian-dispersed leadership, views that continue to be debated, and then offers insights from these debates to illuminate a series of contemporary political challenges for leaders, including the politics of fame, identity, and nationalism.

"…A Dangerous Passion is a shrewd combination of the history of political thought and the analysis of contemporary political issues. Leading the way into the scholarly discussion of the relations between honor and political leadership, this book is an honorable attempt of Patapan's to deepen our understanding of honor, leadership, and politics in general." — Review of Politics

ISBN: 9781438482804

Dimensions: 229mm x 152mm x 25mm

Weight: 227g

258 pages