The World

More than a few readers of the FT, thinking politicians a useless lot, must regularly imagine “I could do better”.  It must be a particularly tempting line of thought for any “Master of the Universe”.

President? No problem. Those politicians are all second class brains. I, by contrast, run a bond desk/am a successful hedge fund manager/private equity honcho/chief executive of a multinational corporation. After all, if I already manage an operation with the annual revenues equivalent to the GDP of a small country, I could surely run a small country. It’s only logical. Well dream on. Chile ’s Sebastian Piñera, president of a small but rather successful country, is the counter factual that should make such fantasists think again.

Mr Piñera is highly intelligent – he holds a Harvard PhD. He speaks several languages. He is energetic, technically competent, socially enlightened and fantastically wealthy -  the former businessman has a fortune estimated in 2010 by Forbes at $2.2bn. When he’s not busy running a country or making a fortune, he sets aside large amounts of money for conversation. For Godsakes, he can even fly: this Master of the Universe has a helicopter pilot’s licence (and is a certified deep sea diver too).

 Yet almost everyone in Chile , andeven some allies, agrees Mr Piñera is doing a lousy job. Yes, the Chilean economy is growing great guns. Unemployment is near record lows. Mr Pinera is also well on his way to eliminating poverty in Chile . Everyone should love him. But they don’t. His approval poll rating, at 26 per cent, is the lowest for any Chilean president, ever (and, while the figures are a bit fuzzy, that includes the dictator Augusto Pinochet). Low poll ratings are not only galling; they compromise Mr Piñera’s ability to govern and do the the things his brilliant mind wants to do.

So what is going on? The answer – outlined in a fascinating new book called Why don’t they love me?by the Chilean sociologist Eugenio Tironi – is precisely that Mr Piñera runs Chile like a corporation and not a state.

Businesses have shareholders; states have citizens. Companies have employees – who willingly surrender some degree of their personal sovereignty in return for a wage. In countries, or at least democratic ones, everyone feels entitled to play a role. Corporate boards have executives – who perform delegated roles that the CEO, by and large, orders them to do. Governments have ministers – who are political collaborators and interlocutors, not just subordinates.

In one classic sign of how Mr Piñera reads government wrong, at his first meeting of the cabinet, he assigned every minister a computer pen drive with a power point presentation outlining their objectives for the year. An efficient administration of time – no doubt. But lacking something of the charismatic touch every successful politician requires – absolutely.

Politics, it has been said, is the greatest drama. It is a mysterious process that revolves around good administrative process, but also symbols – of power, national history, and popular empathy. Mr Piñera’s failings – despite his many assets – shows the limits of technocracy. It also shows the limits of a Superman.