Treasons, Stratagems, And Spoils : How Leaders Make Practical Use Of Beliefs And Values

Treasons, Stratagems, and Spoils is a sequel to the author's highly regarded Stratagems and Spoils. Treason, the new word in the title, indicates a heightened attention to morality-to ideas of duty and conscience-as a foil to rational calculations of advantage. By providing sets of propositions and questions that illuminate narratives of political events, this book helps anyone interested in struggles for power understand politics and political leaders in their own and in other cultures. The method can be used to make sense of power struggles in peasant villages, electoral and presidential maneuvering in the United States, the confusions of post-Soviet Eastern Europe, or Gandhi's morality deployed as a weapon to drive the British out of India. This introductory chapter highlights three features that are found in political arenas everywhere: first, a tussle between the public weal and private interests; second, mindlessness; and third, an ever-present risk of collapse either into chaos or into excessive regimentation.