Caitlin Andrews-Lee, The Emergence and Revival of Charismatic Movements: Argentine Peronism and Venezuelan Chavismo Cambridge University Press, 2021, pp. xvi + 251
Year: 2024
Type: book-review
Abstract: Since Weber's classic elaboration on the pure types of legitimate rule, charisma has been a puzzling phenomenon.As a personal quality, charisma can help political leaders forge an enduring relationship with their followers based on affective and emotional grounds.Even when it is an individual trait, followers can validate these charismatic bonds by professing an almost religious devotion to the leader.When that happens, a charismatic movement has been forged.Caitlin Andrews-Lee masterfully addresses this topic in The Emergence and Revival of Charismatic Movements.Based on a thorough and carefully developed conceptualisation (Chapter 1), Andrews-Lee revisits the role of charisma, defying the routinisation thesis by arguing that charismatic movements can outlive their founders.One of the book's main contributions is identifying charisma's importance in building enduring political identities.By studying Argentine Peronism and Venezuelan Chavismo in depth, the author convincingly shows that the founding leader's charisma forges an enduring political identity based on affective and emotional ties that individual politicians can revive under certain (restrictive) conditions (Chapter 2).Andrews-Lee's book also contributes to the literature on personalism, charisma and political parties.By stressing the resilience of charismatic attachments across generations, the author crafts a novel and provocative theoretical argument emphasising the importance of agency.Individual political leaders can claim to be the leader's heirs in their attempt to revive the founder's charismatic legacy.However, it is no easy task to do so since several structural conditions can favour or hinder that strategy.Additionally, not all self-proclaimed founders' heirs have an equal probability of reviving the movement successfully.Anointed successors tend to be unsuccessful, while self-starters are more likely to succeed if some favourable conditions are met.Moreover, some conditions are not in the control of ambitious successors, such as a profound crisis leading to intolerable suffering for a large part of the population.
Author: Diego Luján
Institution: Universidad de la República de Uruguay
Language: English
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W4408875017