To seek to be prime minister today suggests either reckless confidence or an insatiable hunger for power. Conversely, a paper in the Journal of Public Management and Social Policy has listed the characteristics of leaders with psychopathic, narcissistic or Machiavellian personalities. Beneath this persona is a profound insecurity, which might generate an insatiable need for power, prestige and attention. If success within the system requires psychopathic traits, there is something wrong with the system. A system that tempers representative democracy with participative democracy – citizens’ assemblies, participatory budgeting, the co-creation of public policy – is more likely to reward responsive and considerate politicians.

Source: The Guardian June 12, 2019 04:52 UTC