THE LEADER'S POWER DERIVES FROM THE FACT THAT
HE REPRESENTS A SACRED OBJECT

Devoted Actors die & kill in the name of Sacred Objects: Part XII

The leader's power derives from the sacred object that he represents. He can ask members of the society or population to die & kill only in support of a sacred ideal. The ideal provides the rationale or reason. It is by virtue of a sacred object--one's devotion to this object--that a war becomes "just."