Class 2, Week 10 JP Peer Review 1 Response

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No two strategic leaders can ever be the same. This has been established by the author. Nelson Mandela and Vladimir Putin are two such leaders, different but similar too. Nelson was focused on doing away with apartheid while Putin was focused on improving Russia’s international relations when they took over presidency. Apartheid increased the racial divide, which trickled down to the economic health of the country, but through his strategic leadership and critical thinking skills, Mandela was able to bring back his country to equality, thus eliminating a great portion of the divide (Sternlight et al., 2015). He embraced civil ways of making the needs of the people known even as they strived to do away with apartheid, which is what the author has detailed.

Apartheid was a style of ruling that encouraged a biased view against non-white South Africans. I agree with the author that Mandela had previously been against the unity between white and black South Africans, but had a change of mind after interactions with Gandhi’s and socialist thinkers’ writings on the importance of this unity (Chasi & Levy, 2016). As the author details, before taking on presidency, Mandela was a great campaigner against HIV/AIDS, seeing that it especially ravaged his fellow countrymen. He is said to have regretted failing to do much when he was president, but he made up for it after his presidency until his death (Boseley, 2013). He was, however, a great critical thinker and strategic leader, in light of the various successes and pitfalls he experienced in his leadership.

I agree with the author that the relationship between Turkey and Russia was shaky, especially after the war they fought in 1736. Putin, however, when he got into presidency, was able to improve these relations. The relations were especially improved by their mutual desire to carry on trade on an increase, a mutual motivation for resolving regional conflicts, Russia’s power interest, and keeping an eye on the West (Warhola & Bezci, 2013). This can likened to Mandela’s quest for unity between the white and black South Africans. Like the author has identified, Putin has used his power to give his people misdirection while being dishonest with them in the clarity of matters regarding Russia. This can just be said to be a strategic leader’s failure since they are supposed to be honest with their people.

Following a request by Syria to have Russia’s military intervention against rebel groups, Putin saw it as a sign to have domination in international relations by centrally placing himself in the crisis as identified by the author. As much as it helped Syria, Putin has embraced it as a source of power control for Russia, while excluding the West in the process (Kalinina, 2014). Despite Putin insisting that he has achieved all that he had set out at the beginning, I agree with the author that organized crime and corruption remain an issue. Russia in the post-Soviet era has shown an increase in organized crime and corruption. Putin has failed to be forthright about this situation he does not take failure kindly (Holmes, 2008). As a strategic leader, he ought to be honest about it, and then find the solutions going forward, like Mandela did as an honest strategic leader.

References

Boseley, S. (2013). How Nelson Mandela changed the AIDS Agenda in South Africa. The Guardian, 6.Chasi, C., & Levy, N. (2016). Mandela and excellent African leadership: lessons from an appreciative thematic analysis.

Holmes, L. (2008). Corruption and organised crime in Putin’s Russia. Europe-Asia Studies, 60(6), 1011-1031.

Kalinina, N. (2014). Militarization of the Middle East: Russia’s Role. Security Index: A Russian Journal on International Security, 20(2), 31-45.

Sternlight, J. R., Schneider, A., Menkel-Meadow, C., Mnookin, R., Goldstone, R., & Andrews, P. (2015). Making Peace with Your Enemy: Nelson Mandela and His Contributions to Conflict Resolution. Nev. LJ, 16, 281.

Warhola, J. W., & Bezci, E. B. (2013). The Return of President Putin and Russian–Turkish Relations: Where Are They Headed?. Sage Open, 3(3), 2158244013503165.