The close of that strangest of ages: is the era and ethos of strongman governments gone for good? (4/4)

Some critics of authoritarian or undemocratic styles of leadership have discerned a long arc of “toxic fusion at the top” (Philips, 2023), beginning with Sri Lanka’s first executive President J. R.

- By Wijith DeChickera

The humble demeanour and self-aware ethos of new head of state Anura Kumara Disanayake as expressed by him at his swearing-in ceremony on 23 September 2024, offers the nation fresh hope for a different style of political leadership

Jayewardene — whose style of political leadership has been described as “idiosyncratic”, “self-serving” and “egotistical” (Philips, 2023) — and who was “the political godfather and avuncular mentor” (Philips, 2023) of former President Ranil Wickremesinghe.

The latter was perceived as being the inheritor, beneficiary, and epitome of his great-uncle’s legacy of riding roughshod over polity, people, and parliament in an autocratic manner (Philips, 2023).

And despite Jayewardene’s successor as executive president, Ranasinghe Premadasa, possessing a leadership style that was characterised by “discipline, hard work and a deep empathy for the underprivileged” (Padukka, 2024), arguably all United National Party (UNP) chief executives — whether elected in a landslide as JR was, or legitimised by a parliamentary vote like Ranil was to fill the vacancy left after Gotabaya Rajapaska fled the country and the highest office in the land — have embodied, in varying degrees, political leadership styles that epitomise the ‘strongman’ leader ethic to the nation’s detriment (Philips, 2023).

We see the emergence of a particularly Sri Lankan model of political leadership, especially in the years after the cessation of hostilities between the government and separatist terrorist forces in May 2009, majoring on ‘Great Man’-type approaches. But from even before that, the penchant for ‘charismatic’ leadership has been pronounced. Some critics of authoritarian or undemocratic styles of leadership have discerned a long arc of “toxic fusion at the top”.