In this chapter, we focus on specific new Western religious movements, frequently referred to as cults, but that also might be termed “destructive” religious movements. "Destructive" elements include deceptive recruiting techniques, attempts to exert significant control over the minds and behavior of followers, abuse of followers, criminal activity, and violence or harm (including suicide) toward followers or others. A case vignette is presented, illustrating how the Branch Davidians under the leadership of Vernon Howell (AKA David Koresh) typified many of the characteristics of a Western religious cult. Common characteristics of leaders of Western religious cults are discussed, along with tactics commonly utilized by leaders to gain followers and to maintain control over followers. Common characteristics of followers are also discussed, and some prevalent myths about followers are dispelled. Psychological principles are discussed to the extent that they may shed light on the group and individual dynamics in play that may have contributed to some of the highly destructive outcomes that have occurred in some of these movements.

This chapter begins with a critical view of what defines a “cult,” highlighting the subjectivity and often pejorative use of that term. It then reviews the history of the term “cult of personality” while defining it broadly as any cult whose members are held in thrall by an identifiable leader and offering a case example of Sherry Shriner and her “alien reptile cult.” Characteristics of leaders of “personality cults” are then reviewed including charisma, personality traits such as narcissism or psychopathy, and the use of “brainwashing,” “mind control,” or “coercive persuasion” while evidence of psychopathology and personality traits such as the “authoritarian personality” is likewise reviewed for followers. Due to the cross-sectional evidence regarding such characteristics, it remains unclear whether they represent premorbid traits or sequelae of cult involvement. Additionally, it is argued that cult affiliation is more about “match” and “fit” between leaders and followers along with the relevant group dynamics and social conditions that bind them together.

Spokespeople play a critical role during health emergencies in communicating credible, accurate, and actionable messages to the public. Effective spokespeople not only gain the public’s support during health emergencies but also personalize the health agency. Through professionalism, trustworthiness, authenticity, reliability, and clear communication, spokespeople build trust with the public each time they address the media or deliver a speech. This chapter describes the role of a spokesperson and why this role is critical to emergency response operations. It outlines ideal characteristics of a spokesperson including professionalism, experience working with the media, involvement with decision-making, trustworthiness, charisma, clarity of speech, and relatability. This chapter explains common spokesperson pitfalls and practical tips on how to avoid them. Media briefing and interview techniques on how to communicate effectively with the media are included. Agenda setting theory is described. A student case study uses the Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication framework to analyze the communication of Dr. Nirav D. Shah, director of Maine’s Centers for Disease Control and Pevention, during the COVID-19 outbreak. End-of-chapter reflection questions are included.

It is perhaps one of the most prominent assumptions of rhetorical guidebooks and trainers that abdominal breathing leads to better, e.g., more charismatic and persuasive speech performances. However, recent phonetic evidence was not consistent with this assumption: trained speakers (males more than females) primarily intensified chest breathing when they switched from a matter-of-fact to a charismatic presentation style – and this disproportionate intensification of chest breathing also came with a more charismatic voice acoustics. The present perception experiment builds on these recorded speeches and their acoustic results. We test whether significant correlations would emerge between the acoustic and respiratory measures on the one hand and listener ratings on the other. Twenty-one listeners rated all recorded speeches in individually randomized orders along two 6-point Likert scales: resonance of the voice and charisma of the speaker. Results show significant positive correlations of perceived speaker charisma with f0 variability, f0 range, f0 maximum, and spectral emphasis. Moreover, resonant-voice ratings were positively correlated with both abdominal and chest breathing amplitudes. By contrast, perceived speaker charisma only correlated positively with chest but not with abdominal breathing amplitudes. We discuss the implications of our results for public-speaking training and outline perspectives for future research.

Why should we take visual sources more seriously in our study of global diplomacy? The innovative approach presented in this volume involves using a wide range of visual sources, such as photographs, paintings, films, and material culture, to reveal how these sources can help to illuminate symbolic aspects of diplomacy that textual sources alone may not be able to do. Visual sources can reveal hidden stories and, importantly, help to de-centre the prevailing preconceptions about the nature of global diplomacy and its power dynamics. The unravelling of symbolisms can add cultural depth to the staging of global diplomacy. The approach introduces a host of diplomatic actors often neglected by scholars, including Southeast Asian leaders, female personalities, and crowds of onlookers. Each chapter, which includes examples of intra-Asia diplomacy as well as Asian diplomacy with Western societies, demonstrates the critical role played by visual sources to the field of diplomatic culture.

This chapter delves into the concept of legitimacy and introduces the readers to key debates on regulatory legitimacy. The concept of legitimacy has been extensively studied by scholars from various academic disciplines, including political theory, legal theory, political science, sociology and management studies. The resulting body of scholarship has, however, tended to remain in disciplinary siloes, making the study of legitimacy difficult to navigate. Chapter 11 offers first an exploration of different legitimacy claims that justify why individuals recognize an authority and its rules as legitimate. The chapter then moves to regulatory legitimacy.

The first four principes after Augustus all ruled by virtue of their relationship to the founder of the principate. By the end of the reign of Nero, few men were left who could claim to be descended from Divus Augustus. This led to a series of civil wars, won by a man who had no familial relationship with the domus Augusta. By AD 69, the position of princeps had been codified beyond the hereditary charisma of Augustus. But as we see in the lex de imperio Vespasiani, the Senate recognized the legal claim of Vespasian to rule as princeps was based on the original position created by Augustus, a position solidified by the attitude and actions of Augustus’ successor, Tiberius.

The introduction provides a brief overview of the principal arguments of the book and a description of each chapter. In particular, I present the argument that because Tiberius was forced to rely upon the charisma of Augustus to consolidate his power, he routinized that charisma into the position of princeps.

This chapter evaluates previous scholarship on charismatic leadership in the ancient world, pointing out the lack of a definitive analysis of Max Weber’s actual statements on charisma and its routinization. It includes a discussion of the routinization of charisma from scholars in organizational leadership as well as political science. It also examines the transition of power after the death of Augustus. Although our sources are problematic, we can see Tiberius trying to simultaneously imitate Augustus’ actions in 27 BC while also declaring his reverence for his predecessor and his own inferiority.

The tipping point for regime change arrives suddenly and is difficult to predict, even by those leading the revolution, as well as those leading the defense of the ruling regime. For example, at the time of regime collapse in Russia in 1917, Lenin was in Switzerland, Trotsky was in America, and Stalin was in Siberia. Like a dam that suddenly bursts as a result of the addition of a few more small drops of water, the exact moment of regime collapse is difficult to predict - even by leaders in the revolutionary movement and the forces defending the ruling regime. However, the destruction that follows the bursting of the dam is predictable. Three factors are proposed as preparing the ground for regime collapse. First, societal changes, which can be subtle, incremental, and long term. Second, changes in the ruling elite, particularly with respect to cohesion and fragmentation. Third, the emergence of a charismatic leader who takes charge of the revolutionary movement, often opportunistically putting themselves at the front of the movement.

This analysis of the psychology of revolution has adopted a “from societies to cells” approach, where macro processes are given priority. However, micro-level factors such as individual-level personality traits also have an important role in revolutions. In this chapter, an assessment is made of the personality characteristics of revolutionary leaders, people who surround the revolutionary leader, the lay masses who follow and support the extremist revolutionary leader, and those who do not conform and obey according to the wishes of the revolutionary regime. The traditional research focus has been on the revolutionary leader, and in this analysis the key traits of these leaders are identified as Machaivellianism, pathological narcissism, craving for power, risk-taking, intolerance for ambiguity, illusions of control and grandeur, and charisma. The personality of the extremist revolutionary leader in particular shapes what happens after regime change. Typically, moderates get pushed aside and extremists take over, with radical programs such as the “Cultural Revolution” (as in China and Iran).

The Argead Kingdom in Macedonia knew only primitive political institutions until the middle of the fourth century. Its Kings came from a family that had been divinely chosen and was differentiated from the rest of the population by a collective charisma. It was kept in power through its association with a Hetairoi (Companion) class, with which it socialized in symposia, which it fought with as cavalry in war, with which it hunted, sometimes for reasons of state. The royal hunt was sometimes more than a leisure activity, more than a bonding experience, and more than a preparation for war: it was one of a series of orchestrated showcases which validated and legitimized a King’s rule. In special hunts the King acted out the role of a hero, whose responsibility it was to protect all of his subjects from the forces of chaos both physical and metaphysical. As observers of the King’s prowess, the Hetairoi testified, where appropriate, to the King’s right to rule. Things began to evolve in Macedon at the end of the Peloponnesian War, but only picked up steam after the accession of Philip II. However, even as late as Alexander III, Macedonian expectations remained conservative and tradition-bound.

A specific type of nationalism developed in Europe in the first half of the nineteenth century. It differed from New World nationalisms (in the tradition of George Washington, Toussaint Louverture and Simón Bolívar) in a number of respects. It was spearheaded to a large extent by writers, artists, and intellectuals (in the fields of cultural production and knowledge production) rather than by political and popular activists; as such it affected existing states and newly emergent nations alike; and its main impact was through the reconceptualization of the state, its self-image, and its institutions, rather than through popular mobilization. Its main tenet – that the state should reflect, and indeed be defined by, the ethnocultural nationality of its inhabitants – was applied in the Peace Treaties of 1919 as an overriding principle in international law (the peoples’ right to self-determination) and still informs our current assumption that the default state is the “nation-state.”

The chapter reviews the components of Mongol imperial ideology, notably the Heavenly Mandate and charisma, as well as their development, dissemination, uses, and legacies, in both steppe and sown.

This chapter provides a broad overview of existing anthropological work on exemplars and proposes a new relational way of understanding exemplarity. Most existing philosophical and anthropological work on exemplarity has taken an explicitly functionalist approach. Academics have often valued exemplars because of their ‘articulatory power’ to connect the world of things with the world of ideas. This chapter advances this conversation by examining exemplarity as a relationship between persons and things rather than an attribute of either. In doing so, the chapter explores the social effort that is required to stabilize exemplars in the world, and it shows how the creation of exemplars always goes hand in hand with scepticism and critique. Finally, the chapter investigates whether the modern world has been overcome by scepticism towards exemplars such that we now face a ‘crisis of exemplarity’ in which only ‘everyday exemplars’ can be recognized.