Politics

乌克兰的最后一笑

Feb 27, 2014 Peter Singer

墨尔本——去年，当波兰外长西科尔斯基赴基辅会谈时，乌克兰官员据说嘲笑他戴着一块廉价的日本手表。有几位乌克兰部长戴的手表售价都超过3万美元。在就此撰写的专栏中，我指出石英表能很好地履行手表的职能，其计时的准确性甚至超过售价是其数百倍的机械“名表”。

西科尔斯基笑到了最后。那些嘲笑他的官员在亚努科维奇总统逃离基辅后很快就被乌克兰议会解除了职务。昂贵的手表和亚努科维奇及其亲信的命运恐怕也不无关系。

像很多民众起义一样，腐败是乌克兰革命的关键要素，引发阿拉伯之春革命的针对宰埃尔 - 本·阿里总统的突尼斯革命，以及1986年推翻菲律宾总统马科斯的“人民力量革命”都无一例外。

To continue reading, register now.

Subscribe now for unlimited access to everything PS has to offer.

As a registered user, you can enjoy more PS content every month – for free.

Already have an account? Log in

PS Events: What Economics is Missing

Neglect the insights of women, particularly in economics, and society suffers. At PS’s next virtual event, What Economics Is Missing, Minouche Shafik, Dani Rodrik, Vera Songwe, and others will debate how to create the conditions for achieving genuine inclusivity in economics.

Peter Singer

Writing for PS since 2001
217 Commentaries

Peter Singer, Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University, is Founder of the nonprofit organization The Life You Can Save. His books include Animal Liberation, Practical Ethics, The Ethics of What We Eat (with Jim Mason), Rethinking Life and Death, The Point of View of the Universe, co-authored with Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek, The Most Good You Can Do, Famine, Affluence, and Morality, One World Now, Ethics in the Real World, Why Vegan?, and Utilitarianism: A Very Short Introduction, also with Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek. In April 2021, W.W. Norton published his new edition of Apuleius’s The Golden Ass. In 2013, he was named the world's third "most influential contemporary thinker" by the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute.

new comment has been posted. new comments have been posted.

0 Comments on this paragraph, 4 Comments on this article

Carol Maczinsky Mar 6, 2014

"Most Germans look up to Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is known for her frugality and integrity."

No. Germans don"t look up their chancellors, who are expected to just do their duty, not become moral figureheads. humbleness is a duty, not a virtue.
A new reply to this comment has been posted.
j. von Hettlingen Mar 5, 2014

Ukrainian officials have been known for rampant corruption. In the past billions had been siphoned off aid and trade revenues, that Ukraine generated over the years. So it comes as no surprise that they bought themselves expensive watches. Those, who laughed at Radosław Sikorski, because he was wearing a cheap Japanese watch", are now worrying about their future.
Although Poland pivoted to the West after the fall of the Iron Curtain, its foreign minister Radosław Sikorski doesn't seem to let himself be corrupted by Western consumerism, as it is the case in Russia. In 2011 the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill was criticised for being worldly. He was spotted wearing a gold Breguet watch worth more than $30,000. Sikorski is married to the American Pulitzer-Prize winning author Anne Applebaum. The couple is highly educated and seems to have a good sense of savoir-faire.
After the fall of dictators like Muammar Gaddafi, Ferdinand Marcos, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and Viktor Yanukovich, their lavish life-styles came to light. It confirms the understanding that power and money go hand-in-hand and money often corrupts politics.
In the West, ordinary citizens tend to see their heads of state not only as political leaders, but also as their moral authority. Most Germans look up to Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is known for her frugality and integrity.
Yet there are also politicians, who enjoy the company of the rich and famous. Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy was a bling bling president, married to Carla Bruni, a rich heiress. David Cameron belongs to Britain's upper-class and married somebody of his social status.
In America most members of Congress are millionaires and so are some of their former presidents. Secretary John Kerry's wife was widow of John Heinz, heir of the world famous Heinz company.
Although public offices aren't well paid, yet they are coveted. Politicians can benefit from the power they build up during their terms of office, which can pave the way for a future in the corporate world. In the West corrupt officials do their best to sweep their machinations under the carpet, in fear of prosecutions. Once charged and convicted, they will go down in history as villains.
A new reply to this comment has been posted.
Steve Barney Mar 4, 2014

Good point. Though that power usually does depend on the cooperation of other politicians.
A new reply to this comment has been posted.
Mark Allen Feb 27, 2014

While Einstein is supposed to have said that only the universe and human stupidity are infinite, stupidity is not a satisfactory explanation of why most dictators turn out to be obscenely corrupt. After all, these people possess the cunning to get the job and to hold it down for a time. An explanation that may help identify a solution to the problem may be rather different. The corrupt dictator operates in a social-economic framework that is characterized by corrupt and untransparent transactions: he (or she?) sits near the apex of a kleptocracy. The money of the other kleptocrats (oligarchs) brings them huge power to manipulate the political system and society. They want one of their own to head the political system and to ensure that conditions remain favorable to their continued enjoyment of their wealth and to its further increase. A president who sets himself morally above this kleptocracy by his austere virtue is unlikely to be someone they trust. Thus the palaces and expensive tastes are a pledge by the president that he is one of them. The solution is less that of putting in power a virtuous president than of curbing the power of the kleptocratic class.
A new reply to this comment has been posted.