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The Power of Charisma

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The Power of Charisma Journal of Politics in j Latin America Research Article Journal of Politics in Latin America 2019, Vol. 11(3) 298–322 The Power of Charisma: ª The Author(s) 2020 Article reuse guidelines: Investigating the Neglected sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/1866802X19891472 Citizen–Politician Linkage journals.sagepub.com/home/pla in Hugo Chavez’s´ Venezuela Caitlin Andrews-Lee Abstract Charisma has long been considered a powerful tool for leaders worldwide to rise to greatness. Yet we have given less attention to the way in which charismatic leaders develop deep, unmediated emotional bonds with their followers. I propose a compact theory that explains how charismatic attachments form, overwhelm alternative linkage types, and facilitate the development of powerful and potentially enduring political movements. To illustrate the theory, I turn to Hugo Chavez’s´ Bolivarian movement in Venezuela. Firstly, the analysis of a 2007 survey from the Latin American Public Opinion Project demonstrates the disproportionate influence of charisma on citizens’ attach- ments to Bolivarianism relative to competing factors. Next, six original focus groups conducted with Bolivarian followers in 2016 illustrate the mechanisms underlying the followers’ surprisingly resilient loyalty, not only to the leader but also to his overarching movement. The results suggest that affective political attachments can help sustain charismatic movements after their founders disappear. Resumen Se considera que el carisma es una herramienta poderosa que facilita el acenso de grandes l´ıderes. Sin embargo, hemos prestado menos atencion´ a la manera por la cual los l´ıderes carismaticos´ desarrollan lazos profundos, afectivos y directos con sus seguidores. Este trabajo propone una teor´ıa compacto que explica como´ los lazos carismaticos´ forman, abruman otros lazos alternativos, y facilitan el desarrollo de movimientos pol´ıticos poderosos y duraderos. Se enfoca en el movimiento bolivariano de Hugo The Center for Inter-American Policy and Research (CIPR) Tulane University, UK Corresponding author: Caitlin Andrews-Lee, The Center for Inter-American Policy and Research (CIPR) Tulane University, UK Email: [email protected] Creative Commons CC BY: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage). Andrews-Lee 299 Chavez´ en Venezuela para ilustrar la teor´ıa. Primero, un analisis´ de una encuesta reali- zado en el 2007 por Latin American Public Opinion Project demuestra la influencia predominante del carisma en los lazos pol´ıticos de los seguidores al Bolivarianismo. Despues,´ seis grupos focales originales conducidos con seguidores ilustran los meca- nismos que mantienen la lealtad no solamente al el l´ıder, sino tambien´ a su movimiento en general. Los resultados sugieren que los lazos pol´ıticos afectivos pueden ayudar a sostener a los movimientos carismaticos´ despues´ de la desaparicion´ de sus l´ıderes fundadores. Keywords Venezuela, comparative politics, charisma, citizen–politician linkages, public opinion, Hugo Chavez´ Palabras clave Venezuela, pol´ıtica comparada, lazos pol´ıticos, opinion´ publica,´ Hugo Chavez´ Manuscript received: 13 July 2018; accepted: 5 November 2019 Introduction Charisma has long been a powerful tool for leaders to rise to greatness, as exemplified by Per´on, Ch´avez, Fujimori, Atatu¨rk, de Gaulle, and Gandhi. Indeed, the deep, unmediated emotional bonds these leaders cultivated with millions of followers were crucial in allowing them to consolidate transformative political movements. For example, in Argentina, Per´on won the hearts of millions of workers as Secretary of Labor, paving the way for his presidency and granting him virtually unchecked power during his rule. In Venezuela, Ch´avez won the 1998 presidential elections in a landslide and used his tremendous charismatic appeal to ratify a new constitution, propelling his Bolivarian Revolution. Similarly, in 1958, de Gaulle leveraged his overwhelming presidential victory and reputation as a liberator of France to found the Fifth Republic. In each of these cases, the “personalistic” or “charismatic” ties that leader forged with his followers were central to his ability to profoundly change the political landscape.1 Yet while personalistic attachments between leaders and followers help shape for- midable movements across the globe, scholars widely consider this type of citizen– politician linkage rare and ephemeral (Eatwell, 2006; Hawkins, 2010; Jowitt, 1992; Kitschelt et al., 2010; Shils, 1965; Weber 1978 [1922]). Indeed, scholars contend that, to survive, such attachments must lose their charismatic nature by “routinising” into atte- nuated impersonal ties. Consequently, it remains unclear how these linkages influence charismatic leaders’ ability to consolidate political movements and impact party systems over time. This article sheds light on how personalistic attachments form and facilitate the development of charismatic movements. Using Venezuela as an illustrative case, I combine insights from classic studies of charisma with empirical analyses of voters 300 Journal of Politics in Latin America 11(3) devoted to Ch´avez and his Bolivarian movement. Specifically, I develop and test a clear, compact theory of personalistic attachments that offers two contributions. Firstly, I demonstrate how the mechanisms underlying such linkages shape citizens’ identifica- tion, not only with the individual leader but also with the larger movement. In doing so, I also indicate the relative unimportance of programmatic and organisational factors for movement identification. Secondly, I show that citizens’ ties to these movements have the potential to endure in their raw and deeply emotional state rather than routinising into depersonalised linkages, as existing literature would argue (Jowitt, 1992; Madsen and Snow, 1991; Shils, 1965; Weber 1978 [1922]; Willner and Willner, 1965). The findings suggest the potential for charismatic movements to live on in their original, personalistic state after their founders disappear. To test my theory, I first use an important survey conducted by the Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP) in 2007, at the height of Ch´avez’s rule, to demonstrate the overwhelming influence of personalistic rather than programmatic or organisational factors on citizens’ attachments to Bolivarianism. Next, I turn to six original focus groups with Bolivarian followers conducted in 2016, three years after Ch´avez’s death, to analyse how citizens’ attachments can retain their personalistic core rather than trans- forming into depersonalised ties after the leader’s death. The results indicate that deep, resilient attachments to charismatic movements can survive and shape citizens’ rela- tionship with politics in the long term. I conclude by discussing avenues for future research, including possible long-term implications of these linkages for democratic politics and party-system development. A Theory of Personalistic Attachment How do leaders foster deep, unmediated emotional attachments with voters to generate loyalty to their movements? Scholars indicate that a leader’s charisma – defined by Weber (1978 [1922]: 241) as “supernatural, superhuman, or at least specifically exceptional powers or qualities” – plays a central role in the cultivation of these ties. Importantly, it is not the objective existence of these characteristics, but rather the fol- lowers’ perception of them in the leader that cultivates personalistic attachments (Madsen and Snow, 1991; Merolla and Zechmeister, 2011; Weber 1978 [1922]; Willner and Willner, 1965). Studies highlight different dimensions of charisma that foster per- sonalistic bonds between leaders and followers, including the leader’s magnetic per- sonality and extraordinary political skills (Eatwell, 2006; Pappas, 2011); the followers’ material and psychological needs (Madsen and Snow, 1991; Weber 1978 [1922]); contextual problems such as severe crisis (Madsen and Snow, 1991; Merolla and Zechmeister, 2011; Weyland, 2003; Weber 1978 [1922]); and discourse that glorifies the leader, demonises the opposition, and promises societal transformation (Willner and Willner, 1965; Zuquete,´ 2008). Taken together, these studies highlight important fea- tures of charismatic ties. Yet while they emphasise voters’ affinity with individual leaders, they overlook how these ties can foster an enduring identification with a leader’s overarching movement. Andrews-Lee 301 I propose a compact theory of personalistic attachment that rests on three conditions. For each condition, contextual factors combine with the leader’s behaviour to shape citizens’ attraction to the leader and, more importantly, their deep, emotional identifi- cation with his movement. The first condition involves the leader’s direct recognition of and appeals to citizens who have suffered severe feelings of exclusion, deprivation, and hopelessness. The theory of “proxy control” developed in social psychology suggests that people who have experienced these feelings are likely to seek out a charismatic “saviour” to recognise their suffering, take control of their seemingly unmanageable situation, and combat the “evil” forces blamed for their problems (Bandura,
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