It is often said that politics is an amoral realm of power and interest in
which moral judgment is irrelevant. In this book, by contrast, John Kane
argues that people’s positive moral judgments of political actors and
institutions provide leaders with an important resource, which he
christens ‘‘moral capital.’’ Negative judgments cause a loss of moral
capital which jeopardizes legitimacy and political survival. Studies of
several historical and contemporary leaders – Lincoln, de Gaulle, Mandela,
Aung San Suu Kyi – illustrate the signiWcance of moral capital for
political legitimation, mobilizing support, and the creation of strategic
opportunities. In the book’s Wnal section, Kane applies his arguments to
the American presidency from Kennedy to Clinton. He argues that a
moral crisis has aZicted the nation at its mythical heart and has been
refracted through and enacted within its central institutions, eroding the
moral capital of government and people and undermining the nation’s
morale.