The army exists in a nation for example in North Korea to serve the interest of the people and by extension to protect the enduring benefit of the whole nation so as to fulfill the country's military responsibilities. These duties call for a value-based leadership characterized by impeccable attributes or characters and even professional competencies. All these requirements are features that all leaders at every level or cohort are required to possess regardless of their levels of leadership, assignment or even missions. This paper seeks to analyze the leadership attributes and competencies as brought out in the book “The Cleanest Race: How North Koreans See Themselves and Why It Matters” by B.R. Meyers.
Drawing from the characteristics of the authoritarian leadership of North Korea, one can argue that Kim's regime depended heavily on various tools to maintain his position or stay in power. Among the tools widely used in Kim's regime ranged from restrictive social policies to manipulation of information or even ideas. Kim also used a substantial amount force and even co-option when it came to manipulation of various development agendas of foreign governments. Many of these tools assisted Kim during his regime to remain in power, and they can be used to explain his puzzling survival in authority. The tools seem to suggest that a revolution that is commonly known as the Coup d'état in the land of North Korea to be very unlikely. When establishing or designing any form of coercive strategies, for example economic sanctions, international policymakers should focus on the regime's elites instead of the nation as a whole. To prevent or rather hinder any popular unrest from interfering or even toppling Kim's regime, his family members adopted and relied heavily on the use of tools like restrictive social policies aimed at preventing hostile social classes from creating or establishing society's dependence on the country. Secondly, the regime also widely used the ideas of manipulation of vital information so as to increase the legitimacy of the government and as a result, the opponents became weakened. Any possible form of resistance which would otherwise pose a threat to the regime was faced with a severe level of force. North Korea is not exceptional to various social manipulation; from the time of its inception, Kim II-Sung's regime carried out extensive social doctrination that brought about social order through upgrading the long-abused peasants of North Korea in favored caste positions. The government also created an elite class of people that is made up of revolutionaries who had participated in the war against anti-Japanese insurgency from 1931-1945 in Manchuria. As a form of social doctoring, Kim's regime significantly reduced the opportunities of popular revolts through stunting growth and development of various social groups whose functions may be essential for a revolution. The authoritarian leadership of Kim also used the ideas of controlling vital information with the intention of legitimizing their rule. As defined by other scholars like Max Weber, it is important for power to justify itself. Kim's regime in most cases offered an ideology either in the form of religious legitimacy, similar to Arabism, or even socialism to try and justify their hold or stay in power. As it has always been, ideology in most cases provides means of understanding the world and a model upon which any future action may be taken. If successfully adopted, leaders can use it to legitimize their priorities as they rationalize their mistakes with the intention of convincing their followers to follow their footsteps because they see it as the right thing to do (MacKie, 2014). Kim as a leader also gained legitimacy through designing or developing a cult of …show more content…
The country of North Korea has many personality cults; however, this fact alone depicts very little about the people of North Korea. Just like North Korea, Cuba also has the same cult, and yet the regime of Castro espouses different ideologies from those of their colleagues in Pyongyang. A personality cult seen in the leadership of North Korea came into existence when a one-man dictatorship presented itself as a democracy. His rules make up or form the perfect fulfillment of various democratic deals and with this regard, the Kim cult looks like the followers of Mao and
Drawing from the characteristics of the authoritarian leadership of North Korea, one can argue that Kim's regime depended heavily on various tools to maintain his position or stay in power. Among the tools widely used in Kim's regime ranged from restrictive social policies to manipulation of information or even ideas. Kim also used a substantial amount force and even co-option when it came to manipulation of various development agendas of foreign governments. Many of these tools assisted Kim during his regime to remain in power, and they can be used to explain his puzzling survival in authority. The tools seem to suggest that a revolution that is commonly known as the Coup d'état in the land of North Korea to be very unlikely. When establishing or designing any form of coercive strategies, for example economic sanctions, international policymakers should focus on the regime's elites instead of the nation as a whole. To prevent or rather hinder any popular unrest from interfering or even toppling Kim's regime, his family members adopted and relied heavily on the use of tools like restrictive social policies aimed at preventing hostile social classes from creating or establishing society's dependence on the country. Secondly, the regime also widely used the ideas of manipulation of vital information so as to increase the legitimacy of the government and as a result, the opponents became weakened. Any possible form of resistance which would otherwise pose a threat to the regime was faced with a severe level of force. North Korea is not exceptional to various social manipulation; from the time of its inception, Kim II-Sung's regime carried out extensive social doctrination that brought about social order through upgrading the long-abused peasants of North Korea in favored caste positions. The government also created an elite class of people that is made up of revolutionaries who had participated in the war against anti-Japanese insurgency from 1931-1945 in Manchuria. As a form of social doctoring, Kim's regime significantly reduced the opportunities of popular revolts through stunting growth and development of various social groups whose functions may be essential for a revolution. The authoritarian leadership of Kim also used the ideas of controlling vital information with the intention of legitimizing their rule. As defined by other scholars like Max Weber, it is important for power to justify itself. Kim's regime in most cases offered an ideology either in the form of religious legitimacy, similar to Arabism, or even socialism to try and justify their hold or stay in power. As it has always been, ideology in most cases provides means of understanding the world and a model upon which any future action may be taken. If successfully adopted, leaders can use it to legitimize their priorities as they rationalize their mistakes with the intention of convincing their followers to follow their footsteps because they see it as the right thing to do (MacKie, 2014). Kim as a leader also gained legitimacy through designing or developing a cult of …show more content…
The country of North Korea has many personality cults; however, this fact alone depicts very little about the people of North Korea. Just like North Korea, Cuba also has the same cult, and yet the regime of Castro espouses different ideologies from those of their colleagues in Pyongyang. A personality cult seen in the leadership of North Korea came into existence when a one-man dictatorship presented itself as a democracy. His rules make up or form the perfect fulfillment of various democratic deals and with this regard, the Kim cult looks like the followers of Mao and