Russian President Vladimir Putin and US presidential candidate from the Republican Party, Donald Trump are examples of strong leaders, writes Financial Times.
As the newspaper notes, Trump’s ascent into the political arena is often accompanied by exclamations that only in the United States sich things may occur. But Trump’s phenomenon is easier to understand if to consider it as a part of global trend. Strong leaders are returning to the international arena, and in that sense the US is not an innovator but follows in the footsteps of others.
To this extent, 2012 was a turning point, the newspaper said. In May, Vladimir Putin returned to the Russian presidency, and a few months later, Xi Jinping became the general secretary of the Communist Party of China. According to the newspaper, namely this gave birth to the trend of strong leaders, which had quickly spread to other countries.
So, in July 2013, took place a coup in Egypt resulting in coming to power of a new strong leader, the former Chief of Staff Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. According to the newspaper, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is also an example of such a leader.
Americans may not like the fact that their politicians are compared with the Russian ones. But that is just the point – Donald Trump demonstrates many features of the present cohort of strong leaders, the newspaper concludes.