Leaders and Followers

“Leaders and Followers”

History has its unique way to express the historical evidence, as something very important and interesting. From very routes of human existence people had two basic relationship: leader and follower, what they thought would help them to create better society; or people just followed a strong leader and gave their responsibilities to the person who could create a place where they can live and prosper. But unfortunately this basic institution of leaders and followers brought not only good but also the bad. What humanity knows and achieved by now is because of efforts, thinking, beliefs, ideas, inventions and even mistakes of peoples of the past. Interestingly enough, people could not look forward without knowing the past, but either way, they did the same mistakes as their ancestors but for other reasons and beliefs. Leadership and follower can be seen in every institution and in various ways: like religious beliefs, in economics and politics, in family and society. John Locke said that person’s freedom consists of three things: life, liberty and property, and if one of those things are threatened the person can rebel against his/her leader. What is the most important aspect of this basic institution is that it tent to be interchangeable and very ambiguous.

Leadership is вЂ?very simple,’ a person gains power for different reasons: power, mind, genetics, and appeal, and rules over people and directs them to better life. In reality this idea of leadership almost does not exist. There are three different leadership types that are most practiced in the past and the present. The first type of leadership is the Traditional one, which is the type of leadership that came through tradition and it is not questioned or challenged, because it is the way it should be. The perfect example of Traditional authority is the book, “A life of her own” by Emilie Carles. In this book Emilie tells her readers about her life in her family and outside of her family: basically we can say that it is an autobiography of a woman who lived in France in 1900s. Her autobiography portrays many interesting historical documentation about France at those times: the city life and the country life. But what is most interesting in the book is that how she describes the family relationships of her own family.

The Traditional authority lies within the walls of her house and it is the man’s authority over his household. The father represents the Traditional authority figure whose actions must not be challenged and whose desires must be fulfilled, as she says, “my father was a strict Catholic, an old-fashioned man who had not traveled or read. Nothing mattered to him but work, obedience, and respect for tradition.” What she is mentioning here is that his father was a person for whom keeping tradition was very important. The Traditional authority within its walls means that, for example, in France the father figure was of the charge of the family and his responsibilities included to take care of the family members, make sure that the family has all their needs, make sure that the family members behave properly in the society and within their house, and finally make sure that his family doing their part of the workвЂ"meaning their responsibilities. The father figure had to be sure that the family has everything that they need and for that purpose he must do what ever it take to fulfill his task. Emilie’s live was not easy and her family struggled through the years to have food, roof and cloths. Her father did his side of work to keep his family in good health and that includes farming and smuggling. Emilie’s father had Traditional authority, because it was the way of the society, it came from past, their ancestors lived under those rules so must they, and it was considered Traditional as nobody could challenge itвЂ"that was the way of the life and it was unwritten rule of the society.

Another example of Traditional authority, and maybe most compelling one, is the kingship. The Royal Highness had absolute power over his people and instead serving to people he demanded that people must serve to him, because he had divine right to be on the throne. The Traditional authority in European countries came from the medieval ages, even fartherвЂ"from ancient times when people believed that their king is the one that was chosen by Gods or by one God in medieval ages (when Christianity became the dominant religion of the Europe). The absolute power grew over time and reached to its pick the time of Imperialism when kings not only ruled over their own people but also other вЂ?less civilized’ countries. The king’s power and authority cannot be questioned and his actions cannot be judged. The king of the Belgium took the throne in 1865 and king Leonard tried to become an absolute monarch. To reach his desires he tries to appeal to its people by getting Congo as Belgium colony and succeeds. Leonard by getting Congo and absolute control over economics the same time he gains control over Parliament, which loses its influence, and becomes a subordinate to the royal house.

The basis of the Traditional authority is that its followers cannot challenge it, but changes happen in the world, and as the world moved into the road of progress people started to question Traditional authority. Education is very crucial in understanding why people start to challenge Traditional authority, as something that takes their rights and freedom. Mostly 90% of population were not educated and did not new the routes of their monarchs and did not understand the world in terms of literate person or educated individual. When Absolute Monarchy was present in Europe people were depending mostly on religion and their Traditional ways of living, which preached obedience to their monarch and to the God, and that the society must follower the Traditional ways of living. But the world changes and the roles of leaders and followers tend to changes. The more percentage of people has the chance to be educated and read books of scholars and sees the world through education, and furthermore education becomes popular and respected. Emilie says, “The respect arose by the schoolteacher, a respect intensified by the fact that he or she was frequently the only representative of what, in all humanity, I call knowledge. That is why peasants would come to the teacher for advice.” Emilie emphasizes the importance of education in the period and shows that elementary education was for all children. Education bring with it independence: if the person is educated, like Emilie, she is able to challenge the Traditional authority of her father, because she with her