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Considerations on charisma and the cult of charismatic leadership

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 January 2016

Luciano Cavalli
Luciano Cavalli*
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienza della Politica e Sociologia Politica, Università degli Studi di Firenze, Via S. Caterina d'Alessandria #3, 50129, Firenze, Italy
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Summary

This article seeks to clarify some issues in the study of charisma. Personal charisma is seen mainly as deriving from a relationship of trust born in a situation of crisis in which particularly forceful individuals can shape myths and values. It is not necessarily the case that such leaders are psychologically abnormal, although the masses supporting them may have regressed to a primitive psychic state. Cults may be structured or spontaneous or both; in any event, in the Italian case, the experience of Catholic domination and cultural influence has been an important factor in conditioning perceptions of extraordinary leaders. Mussolini was the only national charismatic leader; others including De Gasperi and Togliatti, were mere factional leaders. Although Craxi, Pannella, Berlusconi and Bossi stood out in a time of crisis, they only offered slightly stronger forms of leadership. Finally, Di Pietro is considered as a possible national charismatic leader of the future.

Type
Articles
Information
Modern Italy , Volume 3 , Issue 2: Charisma and the cult of personality in modern Italy , November 1998 , pp. 159 - 171
Copyright
Copyright © Association for the study of Modern Italy 

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References

Notes

1. Weber, Max, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft, J. Mohr, Tübingen, 1922 (English translation: Economy and Society , Roth, G. and Wittich, C. (eds), Bedminster Press, New York, 1968, 3 vols). As to my interpretation of the theory of charisma, see Il capo carismatico, Il Mulino, Bologna, 1981, and Carisma, Laterza, Rome–Ban, 1995.Google Scholar

2. Tullio-Altan, Carlo, Italia: una nazione senza religione civile, Istituto editoriale veneto–friulano, Udine, 1995, pp. 18–9.Google Scholar

3. Michels, Roberto, La sociologia del partita politico, Il Mulino, Bologna, 1966, pp. 101–9.Google Scholar

4. Teodori, Massimo, Marco Pannella, Marsilio, Venice, 1996, pp. 85–7.Google Scholar

5. For an interesting contribution to this debate, see Reset, 27, April 1996. This issue of the leftist magazine was dedicated to the likelihood of a charismatic leader emerging in present-day Italy.Google Scholar

6. The direct election of the mayors in Rome, Naples and Venice on 15 November 1997 is strong evidence of the growing importance of the personal factor. Political observers agree that parties and coalitions had a quite subordinate role.Google Scholar