WILLFUL LEADERSHIP AND RELIGIOUS HERITAGE IN ASIA: XI JINPING, VLADIMIR PUTIN, AND RECEP TAYYIP ERDOĞAN

In a world marked by growing instability, Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan have emerged as key leaders aiming to restore their nations' former glory through ambitious, often imperial, political visions. Xi seeks a Sinocentric East Asia, Putin strives to reassert Russian dominance in Eurasia, and Erdoğan promotes a pan-Turkic identity across Central Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa. Despite their nations’ secular or anti-religious pasts, all three incorporate religious traditions to legitimize their rule and reinforce cultural identity—Erdoğan most explicitly, and Xi and Putin through selective revival of religious heritage. Central to the analysis is the philosophical concept of "will," particularly as understood within each leader’s civilizational and religious context. The study begins by exploring how different traditions conceptualize free will, shaping each leader’s understanding of power, destiny, and national mission.