Max Weber: Politics as a Vocation

Following paragraph, "To take a stand, to be passionate--ira et studium--is the politician's element, and above all the element of the political leader. His conduct is subject to quite a different, indeed, exactly the opposite, principle of responsibility from that of the civil servant. The honor of the civil servant is vested in his ability to execute conscientiously the order of the superior authorities, exactly as if the order agreed with his own conviction. This holds even if the order appears wrong to him and if, despite the civil servant's remonstrances, the authority insists on the order. Without this moral discipline and self-denial, in the highest sense, the whole apparatus would fall to pieces. The honor of the political leader, of the leading statesman, however, lies precisely in an exclusive personal responsibility for what he does, a responsibility he cannot and must not reject or transfer. It is in the nature of officials of high moral standing to be poor politicians, and above all, in the political sense of the word, to be irresponsible politicians. In this sense, they are politicians of low moral standing, such as we unfortunately have had again and again in leading positions. This is what we have called Beamtenherrschaft [civil-service rule], and truly no spot soils the honor of our officialdom if we reveal what is politically wrong with the system from the standpoint of success. But let us return once more to the types of political figures. Since the time of the constitutional state, and definitely since democracy has been established, the 'demagogue' has been the typical political leader in the Occident."

In this paragraph, Weber is clarifying the role of a politician compared to a civil servant.  The job of the civil servant is to pass down the orders given by his superiors exactly as they are given. Even if the civil servant does not agree with the orders, he must execute them as is.  This differs from the role of the political leader in that the actions of the political leader are a direct result of his personal opinion. Decisions in this role come from a more moral responsibility rather than just dictating commands given by an authority figure. Weber believes that those who possess high moral standards make poor politicians and those with low morals are the ones who often hold the leadership positions. Weber reminds us that since the creation of democracy, the Western world has been fond of putting leaders of a “demagogic” personality into office.  The Western world’s use of written and spoken word emphasizes this personality and rationalizes why the political leader is viewed in this way.