Populism, Charisma, and the Politics of the Extraordinary

• In Event: 2209 - Populism in the Global North and South

Abstract

The first round of scholars of populism used mass societies theories of rupture that combined notions of anomie and charisma to argue that these movements were irrational. Their critics relied on categories of normal politics such as class and party to claim that despite invocation to the extraordinary, populisms are normal phenomena. They rejected using concepts that cannot be measured such as charisma, emotions, and feelings. Yet, the hyper rationalization of populism does not allow to study the politicization of emotions and the role of affect in creating and mobilizing the people. My paper argues that to understand populism we need theories that capture the extraordinariness of populism and that integrate emotions and reasons. The paper has two sections. The first focus on the role of the leader in different definitions of populism. The second part reworks the notion of charisma and uses examples from the Americas to analyze populist leadership as social creations and performances that pays attention to the actions and narratives of followers and leaders.

Author

• Carlos de la Torre, University of Florida