Are Populist Leaders Charismatic?

While populist leaders are frequently described by scholars as ‘charismatic’, analysis tends not to go beyond this perfunctory labelling and rarely interacts with the literature on charisma. Moreover, the attribution of ‘charisma’ to populist leaders seems usually based on how they present themselves rather than how they are perceived by their followers (i.e. the relationship we should be looking at). Following Roger Eatwell’s call for analysis to distinguish between ‘charisma of the coterie and charisma of the masses’, this paper examines charismatic relationships within populist parties. It firstly establishes what we should be focusing on when assessing charisma and what the key properties of the charismatic relationship are. Then, using circa 100 individual and group interviews conducted with elected representatives and party members, it questions whether we can properly speak of ‘charismatic relationships’ in the cases of three leaders regularly termed ‘charismatic’ by the literature on populism - Silvio Berlusconi of the Popolo della Libertà (PDL), Christoph Blocher of the Swiss People’s Party (SVP) and Umberto Bossi of the Lega Nord (LN). In particular, it examines how followers viewed the qualities of these leaders and their roles in the party. The paper concludes that while Bossi certainly satisfied the conditions set in the paper for definition as ‘charismatic’ and Berlusconi largely does so, it is mistaken to speak of Blocher as a ‘charismatic leader’.