What makes a good leader?

A leader could basically be treated in the following ways by his people:

• loved
• feared
• hated
• treated in comtempt

A leader should never be hated and looked upon in contempt by his people. Hatred and contempt are the worse things that can happen to a ruler, hatred because nothing else is needed to motivate opposition, even assassination and contempt because then few will fear to act in opposition.

Machiavelli, in The Prince claims that it is better by a ruler to be feared then loved by his people, but this is only for the reason that in times of crisis, it is important that the ruler is obeyed. According to him, a ruler who is loved but not feared may not be obeyed in need, which could lead to disaster. Thus a ruler need not be loved to rule well, but he must be feared to the extent that he will be obeyed.

A ruler who is both feared and hated may be successful but the foundations of success will be unsound. Stalin died unchallenged in power while alive, but three years after his death he was denounced by Khrushchev, a member of the pultibiro in the 1930s and in charge of the communist party, for his crimes (the "secret" speech of 1956).