The Politics of Moral Capital

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Cambridge University Press, 2001 - Philosophy - 277 pages
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.

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Contents

Acknowledgments page
1
Moral capital and politics ΙΟ
10
Moral capital and leadership
27
the longpurposed man
50
the man of storms
83
the moral phenomenon
118
her fathers daughter
147
Kennedy and American virtue
180
Crisis
200
Aftermath
218
Denouement
235
Epilogue
255
Bibliography
261
Index
270
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