A Dominação Carismática em Regimes Democráticos

The article seeks to analyze the possibility of reconciling the Weberian concept of charismaticauthority with contemporary democracies and with leaders who do not break with institutionalnorms. From Weber’s exegetical analysis, we arrive at a definition of charismatic authoritythat is based primarily on the affective relationship of the followers with the leader becauseof his extraordinary character. Contesting other interpretations, we argue that this definition iscompatible with democratic leaders without losing the efficiency of its application to subversivecases. Finally, in addition to Weber, we present some possible applications of the concept basedon three ideal-typical elements: intensity, diffusion and direction of the charism. This model caninclude authoritarian and anti-authoritarian charisms and explain the behavior of followers inmeasures that involve their leaders.