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Many authors argue that candidates are more popular among voters from their own region. Two potential explanations have been suggested: voters' identification with their home region, and the representation of regional interests. The information on candidates' residence can be transmitted to voters in different ways, the most easily accessible way being information printed on the ballot paper. However, most studies on "friends and neighbour voting" use aggregate data. Studies that rely on individual level data usually put respondents in hypothetical situations and confront them with synthetic candidates, reducing their realism. To bridge this gap and to test the effect of providing information on the candidates' residence, we use data from a survey experiment to analyze voters' responses to ballot paper information on the regional background of real candidates in the 2014 European election in Germany. We find that voters in an open list PR election are more likely to support regional candidates if ballot paper information on the candidates' geographic background helps them to do so. The appeal of personal ties is a stronger explanation for vote preference than the one based on regional interests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is the biography of a failed entrepreneur - C.J. (Jack) DeGaris, a household name in the early 1920s and now largely forgotten. Not mentioned by Nichols is the government's commitment to other soldier settlement schemes, in the wheatbelt and in the southwest, where the infamous Group Settlement scheme was supported by the British government. The Alert Grey Twinkling Eyes of C.J. DeGaris: By David Nichols. [Extracted from the article]

"The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps: Defining Iran's Military Doctrine" by Alma Keshavarz provides a detailed analysis of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its role in Iran's hybrid warfare strategy. The book explores the historical development of the IRGC, its relationship with the Iranian government, and its influence on domestic and foreign policies. Keshavarz argues that the IRGC has become the sole proprietor of Iran's foreign policy priorities and is deeply embedded in the Iranian economy. The book also discusses the Quds Force, the IRGC's special operations unit, and its relationship with the Supreme Leader. Keshavarz concludes by offering policy recommendations for dealing with the IRGC's hybrid warfare strategies, emphasizing the need for a comprehensive and long-term approach. Overall, the book provides valuable insights for policymakers and academics studying Middle Eastern security issues. [Extracted from the article]

This paper narrates the concept of Sustainable Peace Leadership and examines how three prominent Peace Activists from South and Southeast Asia measure up to the concept. The article will consider the works and ideas of Mohandas K. Gandhi (Mahatma Gandhi), Lhamo Thondup (The 14th Dalai Lama), and Nguyen Xuan Bao (Thich Nhat Hanh). Mahatma Gandhi was instrumental in achieving Indian independence from the British Empire. The Dalai Lama is the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people and has managed a difficult relationship with the Chinese government following the occupation of Tibet. Thich Nhat Hanh was a Vietnamese Buddhist monk, peace activist and is known as the 'father of mindfulness'. The paper identified several characteristics of Peace Leaders. These include being a charismatic leader who motivates their followers to achieve their goals in a non-violent and inclusive manner. Peace leaders meditate and spend time developing inner peace which then leads to outer peace. The paper also asserts that peace leaders are capable of recognizing the humanity in their opponents and seek a mutually beneficial solution. The three chosen individuals are all recognised as being charismatic leaders who were prominent peace leaders. All were deeply spiritual and practiced meditation and other inner work on a regular basis. They stressed the humanity in their opponents, based on their religious beliefs and the concepts of non-duality and interdependence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Social & Cultural Geography is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Sociologists have studied charisma almost exclusively as a form of authority, following Weber's original conceptualization. While there have been many elaborations on Weber's work, the full richness of charisma as a concept has remained unexplored and its potential applicability to radically egalitarian movements limited. This paper offers a more democratic conceptualization of charisma by putting Weber's classic theorization into conversation with Hannah Arendt's theory of action. It argues that charisma is best understood as a latent capacity to act, a quality that is not exclusive to a few extraordinary individuals but rather is quintessentially and universally human. Using the US draft resistance movement during the Vietnam War as a case study through which to develop this conceptualization, the paper centers the charismatic act and explores the conditions of existential distress that elicit such acts and the conditions of (emergent) political community that enable and are constituted by them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the aftermath of the UK loss in the 2020 Euro Football Cup, I analyze a theopolitical force of contemporary black football players, as a sovereignty from below epitomized by the figure of Marcus Rashford. Given his meteoric rise in British culture and his prominent social activism against child hunger, Rashford, among the other targets of racial abuse, is a particularly apt exemplar. By integrating anthropological ideas on theopolitics, totemism, charisma, and the sacrality of substance, this paper asks how the iconography, life histories, and social media interventions of young, kingly, Black (mainly Christian) athletes, effect a theopolitical force as an elastic movement of self-referentiality and sovereignty from below that is agonistic rather than antagonistic to the state. Specifically, it explores how these black footballers enliven an exemplar of theopolitical sovereignty that does not decide on letting live or making it die, but on doing a work of undoing injustice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2013-2016 West African Ebola outbreak was both a catastrophic public health disaster and a rare research opportunity. This paper analyses how the tensions between the humanitarian imperatives of disease control and the epistemic conventions of bioscientific inquiry played out in the accelerated development, testing and licensure of Ebola vaccines. Beginning with the epidemiological projections of the disease’s spread, the paper develops the notion of evidentiary charisma to capture the power of experimental designs and data packages to marshal public health salience, recruit moral legitimacy and short-circuit scientific contestation. Attention to the charismatic dimensions of Ebola vaccine R&D helps to unpick the simultaneous appeals to exception and convention in the unfolding of a global health crisis, and to trace the normative and technical contours of the emerging paradigm of emergency research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Firstly, Leahy is surely correct to emphasize the crucial significance of local dynamics to our understanding of both the IRA campaign and the intelligence effort. More than thirty years on from the secret opening exchanges in what would develop into the Northern Irish peace process of the 1990s, there is still no academic consensus amongst political scientists and contemporary historians with regard to the essential characteristics of the conflict (or "war"). Leahy utilizes a broad range of diverse research techniques, including oral history, memoir-writing and the private papers of several key protagonists (especially Brendan Duddy, the main intermediary between the IRA and the UK government). [Extracted from the article]

The end of the Carolingian dynasty is often portrayed as the result of the weak reign of Emperor Charles III. His former wife Richgard, with whom he had not produced an heir, became a nun after their divorce. These events did not pass without much controversy: legends tell that the Carolingian empress was forced to prove her virginity by trial by fire after being accused of adultery. Shedding light on early and high medieval sources dealing with Richgard's alleged trial by fire, such as the twelfth-century Kaiserchronik, this paper shows how in the representation of the divorce Richgard was bestowed with agency. Empire politics, pressure to produce offspring, and the image of a pious female ruler lead us to review the end of the Carolingian dynasty from the perspective of its last empress, who up to the nineteenth century was much venerated in Strasbourg and the area around the cathedral city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Populist leaders' charisma, and their ability to connect directly with the voters, usually via social media platforms, characterize the populist communication style. This study, with its focus on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 2014 and 2019 online election campaigns, extends our understanding of how populist leaders change their online communication strategy to seek votes during two different elections. After analyzing and comparing Modi's tweets from 2014 with his 2019 online campaign, this study demonstrates that Modi, as a first-time contender, employed a key populist strategy of attacking opposition and elites, along with promising economic growth, in 2014. However, as an incumbent in 2019, he primarily used Twitter for self-promotion and to establish a direct connection with voters. While his attacks on opposition reduced significantly, his engagement with the mainstream media increased in the latest elections. This paper also discusses the increasing digitalization and its impact on populist communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the end of the Second World War, the popularity of modern elite sport has grown immensely and so has the economical interests in sport. Athletes have become attractive advertising partners. Much money is at stake so it is understandable that companies are alarmed when their poster boys or girls are caught up in scandals. Inspired by a recent study, which found that stock return of primary team sponsors in cycling was not affected if the team was involved in doping scandals, this paper is an attempt to explain why athletes often maintain their marketing value even if they are exposed as bad role models. The thesis is that the attraction of athletes relates to the concept of ‘charisma’, and that the success of mass spectator sports is due to sport’s appeal to what psychologist Henry Rutgers Marshall by the end of the 19th Century in an article in Mind identified as man’s ‘religious instinct’. So after a brief introduction, the paper begins with a clarification of the antiquated concept ‘religious instinct’. This is followed by a critical examination of the secular usage of ‘charisma’ as introduced by Max Weber. Peter Sloterdijk’s sobering point that Hitler’s aptitude for his role in Germany did not rely on charisma lays the foundation for a more precise and rationally consistent description of the concept. It is argued that charisma is not something certain individuals posses, rather it is something that is experienced as an emotional effect by those who label individuals charismatic, which is based on the honesty competence and commitment of the perceived ‘charismatic’ person. Idols can have charismatic effect on us even if they are unprincipled cheats so long as they are committed to what they do. This is why athletes maintain their appeal and marketing value so long as their performances transcend the capabilities of ordinary people. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Authority is one of the most problematic and ambiguous concepts in social and educational theory. Authority is a relation that is based on disparities of knowledge, expertise or experience. Drawing on teaching observations and interviews with undergraduate students and lecturers about their experiences of large-group teaching, I argue that in contrast to lecturers' focus on professional authority and expertise, many students respond most strongly to experiential forms of authority in lectures. In other words, there is a disparity between students' and educators' conceptions of pedagogic authority. Through a discussion of a teaching intervention aiming to playfully experiment with authority relations in the lecture theatre, the paper contributes to a conceptualization of an emancipatory and experimental politics of educational authority, one where students are challenged, not only to think independently, but to see their own existence – the grounds for their actions – as an important intellectual problem to engage with. This requires moving beyond the dominant Weberian ideal types of educational authority (traditional, rational-legal, charismatic, and charismatic-intellectual) towards a fuller understanding of experiential forms of authority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is presented in honour of Doug Miles, who taught me as an undergraduate student, supervised my Honours thesis on Balinese kinship and encouraged me to do fieldwork on theatrical forms in Thailand. Doug was my supervisor in the initial stages of fieldwork in Bangkok and stimulated my interest in theatre as an anthropological enterprise that could reveal the fundamental dimensions of South and Southeast Asian cultures. The present paper explores the seductive appeal of likay, a popular Thai theatre genre that can be appropriated to ensure commercial, ritual and political gain. Drawing on some of the arguments made in my doctoral dissertation on likay, I demonstrate how the very qualities that make it attractive as a political and religious strategy, its sensuous appeal and crowd-drawing capacity, make it vulnerable to negative aesthetic, ideological and moral evaluations by those in power. Following Doug, I stress that theatre, like any other form of cultural production, must be situated within its historical and political context. My fascination with the concept of charisma, which I use to illuminate the seductive aspects of likay, also reflects Doug's influence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Small Business & Entrepreneurship is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Drawing historical comparisons between the nineteenth century and the present, this paper describes and analyses how an elite section of the global rich, through mega-giving and a re-emerging notion of ‘noblesse oblige’ that is enshrined in the philanthrocapitalism movement, have fostered a sacred rationale for their extreme wealth. Not only do the new nobles hold the power of wealth but, through mega-giving, they generate a moral imagery akin to religious figures who ostensibly self-sacrifice for the good of everyone else. This generates a form of charismatic authority that affords the super-rich an influential space from which to spread a ‘theodicy of privilege’ - shielding growing wealth concentration from criticism and sanctifying the claim that individual mega-wealth is collectively beneficial. Through its contribution to and facilitation of the inegalitarian status quo, this theodicy engenders various forms of structural violence. Here we explore the mechanisms that enable wealthy donors to position themselves as apparent benefactors of humanity, including a reliance on metrics that appear to justify the claim that targeted philanthropic expenditures can and are reducing global wealth and health inequalities, but which raise unanswered questions surrounding the actual effects of the outcomes claimed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates a neglected aspect of charismatic authority: the problem of economic practices of charismatic leaders and their communities. Drawing on Weber's classical theory of charisma, I argue that charismatic communities and their ideologies economically operate on principles of gift and bounty. I demonstrate the value of this analysis on a contemporary case of Elon Musk's charisma and his involvement with the Dogecoin cryptocurrency through Twitter. Through analysis of Musk's performances and his admirers' online activity, I argue that to those who believed in Musk, his involvement constituted either a gift to the community or a bounty-hunter-like feat that further enhanced his charismatic authority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the work of Weber onwards charisma has been primarily explained in terms of its relationship to underlying social structural and psychological environments. The paper redresses this imbalance and examines the cultural structures that operate as preconditions for the attribution of charisma to political and religious leaders. Drawing on Weberian, Durkheimian and semiotic theory the paper argues that charisma arises in conjunction with salvation narratives. The internal structure of these narratives requires binary oppositions contrasting good and evil. The model is exemplified with reference to case studies of Hitler, Churchill and Martin Luther King. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 'policy entrepreneur' concept arises from the Multiple Streams' theory of agenda setting in Policy Studies. Through conceptual stretching', the concept is extended to global policy dynamics. Unlike 'advocacy networks' and 'norm entrepreneurs', the discussion addresses the strategies of 'insider' or 'near-governmental' non-state actors. The analysis advances the policy entrepreneur concept in three directions. First, the discussion develops the transnational dimensions of this activity through a case study of International Crisis Group. Second, rather than focusing on charismatic individuals, the discussion emphasizes the importance of organizational resources and reputations for policy entrepreneurship and access into international policy communities. Organizations maintain momentum behind policy solutions and pressures for change over the long term when individuals retire or depart for other positions. Third, the discussion outlines four distinct entrepreneur strategies and techniques that both individuals and organizations cultivate and deploy to enhance their power and persuasion in global policy processes and politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article advances an interdisciplinary and multifactorial socio-cultural approach to the fascistization of the Ustaša in interwar Yugoslavia, leading to terrorism and racial cleansing. It concentrates on the life-trajectories of Mijo Babić and Zvonimir Pospišil, two nationalist activists notoriously known as the first Ustaša terrorists. Drawing on the previously unknown political memoirs of Pospišil and Babić, the article argues that the two activists bridged several phases of cumulative radicalization in the Ustaša organization, from the adoption of political violence at the grass-root level in the 1920s to international terrorism in the 1930s and then state-sponsored genocide in the first half of the 1940s. The article points out that Ustaša underwent most forms of political radicalization to terrorism identified by McCauley and Moskalenko, but it also adds to their typology a case of radicalization to mass violence in the regime phase. Ustaša's trajectory thus illustrates a rare process of transition from the radicalization of an oppositional, non-state group to mass radicalization leading to racial genocidal policies under a fascist-totalitarian regime. It is hoped that the biographical approach to radicalization advanced by the article contributes to a better understanding of politically motivated terrorism and mass violence in post-1918 Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines how Bin Chun 斌椿 (1804–1871), the first late Qing Chinese scholar-official to Europe, kept a critical distance from the West by delivering different messages between his prose (written for the late Qing court) and poetry (shared with friends). It explores his representations of "self-styled heroism," Qing Occidentalism, and gender hierarchy in writing. In the prose written for a more public purpose, Bin Chun credited his popularity to the respected nation behind him, portrayed Westerners as barbarians, and reserved his praise for upper-class women in the West. In contrast, his poems elaborate on his charisma, tone down the bizarre scenes in the West, and include exuberant descriptions of ladies. As the official has been considered a conservative who failed to recognize the strength of the West, this research sheds light on his efforts at cultural mediation that reveal further complexity in his stance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Melting glaciers and snow fields have become one of the strongest symbols of global climate change, instigating last-chance tourism and rallying cries for climate action from activists. In this sense, retreating glaciers act as charismatic entities, appealing to the public's feelings and imaginations. The melting cryosphere is also a subject for scientific enquiry, providing the knowledge needed to establish the rates at which glaciers are declining and how they interlink and interact with other natural and human systems. Here, by applying a relational ontology rooted in human geography and science and technology studies, we show how melting glaciers and snow fields serve as charismatic boundary objects that enable tourism actors to raise awareness about climate change and push for action. Specifically, we conducted interviews and surveys with mountain guides and other actors involved in glacier tourism in local communities surrounding two of the major ice caps in Norway, Jostedalsbreen and Folgefonna, and found that the melting glaciers serve to reconcile different knowledge systems, allowing for the coexistence of affect, imaginaries, and scientific rationality. Thus, with mountain guides as the catalysts, melting glaciers contribute to a shift from a discourse of fear to one of care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper rethinks audit regimes from the shadow-land of outsourcing in India. This is the arena of informalized work environments that are connected to global value chains and the revenue streams of an extractive liberalization state focused on public debt repayment. Based on ethnography of one such work-place, Venture Ltd shipyard in Howrah, it argues that in such settings audit creates opacity, disorders the work process and is part of value chains supported by diverse forms of charisma and racial distinction. As a result of these antinomies, testing events are times of friction rather than of the enactment of a shared calculative reason. Overall this case suggests that we need to focus more on the disordered capitalism supported by audit regimes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, we explore the modernisation of the role of president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) by analysing the actions of three men who held the position during the twentieth century: Pierre de Coubertin, Avery Brundage and Juan Antonio Samaranch. Employing Weber's concept of charismatic authority, and considering its connections to, and congruence with, contemporary understandings of political celebrity, we examine how each of these men mobilised their influence and authority to reinvigorate the political energy of Olympic sport and benevolent Olympism, particularly in times of crisis and/or apathy. In turn, we illustrate how the IOC under Samaranch came to embrace celebrity culture and spectacle in a way that solidified the organisation's legitimacy, power and influence amidst the challenges of governance posed by late modernity. Our central argument is that all three of these men were charismatic leaders, in the Weberian sense, and that they mobilised this authority using the forms, means and opportunities of power particular to their respective time periods. In turn, the extent to which they can be considered political celebrities should be considered against the ‘routinised authority’ that has become ascribed to the position of the IOC president itself. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In a political landscape where the content of politics is getting more and more complex and political parties less and less different, voters often base their voting behavior on extrinsic rather than intrinsic cues, a bundle of extrinsic cues constructed as an image and based on perceived personal traits. Based on survey data from a sample of Norwegian voters, this paper tests how a political candidate's credibility, charisma, and physical attractiveness are related to voters’ judgments of suitability for a leading political position. Across three different politicians, the results show that credibility plays a significant role in the evaluations performed by voters. More surprisingly, charisma does not have the expected effect, and to voters, physical attractiveness is found to be more important than charisma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the underlying principle of 'economy' in the Greek Orthodox monastery of Vatopaidi, Mount Athos, in complementary relation to the monastic ideal of 'virginity' as the means of separating monastic from secular life. In this context, 'economy' represents an internal and external dichotomy: an economy within the spiritual self ('economy of passions') and the monastery ('law of the house'), expressed in traditional practices, such as prayer, confession, psalmody, and painting; and an economy of relations between the monastery and the materialist 'cosmopolitan' world outside Athos, which is manifested by Vatopaidi's strong financial and political status in the Orthodox world. The material reveals the overlapping connection between the notions of the 'self', the 'monastery', and the 'world', in order to critically evaluate the cultural economy of Vatopaidi in relation to its historical past, and in connection to its present political and economic status within and against the Greek state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the creation and launch of a challenger brand in the UK financial services. The challenger was an extension of a more traditional brand. A definition of a challenger brand is proposed. A case study approach is adopted. A model is proposed of the process of brand development and launch. Factors found to influence challenger brand success included an inclusive brand development process, a challenger philosophy, charismatic strong leaders, passion and excitement, and the heritage of the parent brand. The problems of ensuring challenger status for the future are considered. Questions are raised for managers wishing to develop challenger brands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper outlines a new theory of structural transformation in charismatic systems by postulating a complementary relationship between love and power. Radical reorganization of social organization, the function of charismatic systems, requires mobilizing and realigning enormous amounts of social energy. The source of this social energy is love. When patterned as communion, love fuses the group into an undifferentiated whole and releases the social energy previously locked up as institutionalized structure. Released from structure or form, however, social energy is highly volatile and produces immense pressures towards instability. Counterbalancing the pressure from communion, a strong, collective order of power functions to harness and align the energy, thereby promoting group stability and enhancing the prospects for structural transformation. Data from a national study of sixty urban communal organizations are used to ground key aspects of the theory. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The subject of charismatic leadership has been attacked by a number of scholars and many supposed shortcomings have been pointed out. Lowenstein (1966) argues that it is difficult to apply the concept to historical figures since all the researcher can rely on are the reports of the individual's contemporaries. In other words, it is not strictly a testable theory. Batnam has argued that charisma as a concept of leadership "has not in any substantial manner improved our understanding of the problems it touches on," and considers the concept "largely valueless" (1964:341). Ake has voiced similar misgivings and suggests that the concept lacks rigor and clarity, distorting rather than illuminating political reality. Wolpe has argued, "… the concept of charisma is not analytically useful," and has tried "to make explicit the contradictory and ambiguous features of charisma" (1968:306). In spite of these criticisms, the concept of charisma continues to be used in a variety of studies and has even penetrated the field of political journalism. It is, however, the argument of this paper that neither those who denigrate it nor those who have used it are doing justice to the notion of charismatic authority and leadership. For Weber it was one type of leadership, and authority among other types, and in the course of the voluminous output of his short scholarly life he left the details of his typologies unspecified. It is therefore the task of latter day students to specify them and apply them to concrete instances. While many have done this, there are two basic flaws: a) they have been loathe to escape from the limits set by Weber himself, and b) they have not tried to integrate Webers notions with other relevant perspectives and theories, so as to enlarge and/or supplement them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since its first systematic treatment by Max Weber in Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft in the early twenties, the concept of charisma has been of only limited use to the social sciences. This is so because of fundamental disagreement concerning its meaning and application. In response to this, the present paper offers (1) a brief examination of Weber's contribution, (2) a critical analysis of this position based in part on the recent literature, and (3) a final formulation of the concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on a structural perspective of modern religious movements, first by explicating the assumptions underlying current sociological research of "fringe" religions, and secondly by proposing an alternative strategy. Its thesis suggests that "as cultural entities we have catalogued "deviant" religious forms in detail but that as social structures only the bare skeletons of most groups at one point in time have been analyzed, depriving us of much valuable information for understanding them." The problem of possessing a theoretical scheme is actually less an obstacle than a vacuum due to the previous lack of interest in structural variables. There exist a number of theoretical approaches taken from the study of complex organizations which might be fruitfully applied as models to investigate religious movements. For example, one particular theoretical basis for research utilizing a structural approach is provided by Amitai Etzioni's elaboration of Max Weber's theory of charisma. Weber believed that charisma existed in its natural "pure" form, residing in the character of dynamic leaders, and that it could be "routinized" so as to be confined in organizational positions and transmitted from incumbent to incumbent.

Since a critical turn was embarked on two decades ago, research into sports coaching has increased in quality and quantity [see Jones, R. L. (2019). Studies in sports coaching. Cambridge Scholars Publishing]. Despite such welcome advances, the essence or heart of the activity remains contested terrain [Abraham, A., & Collins, D. (2011). Taking the next step: Ways forward for coaching science. Quest (grand Rapids, Mich), 63(4), 366–385. https://doi.org/10.1080/00336297.2011.10483687; Jones, R. L., Edwards, C., & Tuim Viotto Filho, I. A. (2016). Activity theory, complexity and sports coaching: An epistemology for a discipline. Sport, Education and Society, 21(2), 200–216. https://doi.org/10.1080/13573322.2014.895713]. Subsequently, the aim of this work was to inductively analyse the practice of a top-level sports coach to better understand the core of what he actually did whilst working. This was particularly in terms how he managed the working contexts and the others within it towards desired ends. In seeking a 'bottom up' construction of practice, the study adopted tenets from both grounded theory and phenomenological inquiry. More specifically, the fieldwork was conducted over a 6-month period at a top-level women's basketball club, with the data collection methods being ethnographic in nature, inclusive of participant observation and informal interviews. The main findings indicated that the coach in question, together with his coaching team, were engaged in a series of social, power-related, seductive strategies designed to charm athletes and others to 'buy into' the given agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the face of current democratic backsliding and autocratization processes, research has rediscovered issues of autocratic legitimation. However, the question of whether rulers' personalist rhetoric to bolster their legitimacy is followed by congruent political action remains underspecified. Using new expert-coded measures for 164 countries from the Varieties of Democracy project, we examine the political rhetoric–action link using using fixed effects models. The results confirm that shifts towards personalist legitimacy claims are no cheap talk but oftentimes important warning signals for a substantial deterioration of democratic quality, manifested in weaker judicial and legislative oversight of the executive branch. However, in contrast to much current concern, we show that liberal democracies seem to largely escape the negative repercussions of government discourses that increasingly stress the uniqueness of the ruler. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

David C. Rapoport, a prominent scholar of terrorism and pioneer in the study of religious terrorism, passed away at the age of 95. He made significant contributions to the field, particularly in his examination of the political connotations and underlying themes of violence in sacred texts. Rapoport founded the journal Terrorism and Political Violence, which allowed for a wide range of interdisciplinary perspectives on terrorism studies. He was known for his kindness, generosity, and mentorship of young scholars. His four waves theory of modern terrorism is one of his most notable contributions. Rapoport's work will be greatly missed in the field. [Extracted from the article]

The concept of charisma has gained considerable interest among social scientists in multiple disciplines. Nevertheless, research on charisma in the marketing field is scarce, and little is known about which specific nonverbal behaviors predict perceived charisma and lead to positive consumer responses. Therefore, the aim of this article is to identify nonverbal behaviors that lead to a salesperson’s perceived charisma in a personal selling context by means of high-precision, time-locked coding. This research explores aspects of body language that differentiate salespeople from each other and investigates whether such differences are antecedents of perceived charisma. The findings indicate that certain arm actions, arm postures, and action functions have a significant effect on charismatic appearance and can in turn produce favorable attitudes toward the salesperson. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Communicating visions inspires followers' efforts by imbuing collective objectives with meaning, but it is not clear how leaders achieve this motivating effect. We argue that central to motivational influences of leaders' vision communication is a match between the motivational appeal in communication and followers' values. We test this proposition by focusing on followers' individualism–collectivism as moderators of the effectiveness of motivational appeals that are anchored in either personal interests (a match with individualistic values) or obligations to the collective (a match with collectivistic values) to inspire creativity in pursuing vision. From a vision–values match principle, we predict that communicating visions with a personal interest appeal inspires more creativity among individuals with stronger individualistic values by engendering followers' meaningfulness, and more so for vertical than for horizontal individualism whereas communicating visions relying on an obligation appeal is more effective for individuals with stronger collectivistic values, and more so for horizontal than for vertical collectivism. Results of an experiment (N = 115) and a field study (N = 304) were largely consistent with these propositions. We discuss broader implications of the vision–values match principle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article builds on existing scholarship on populism while shifting the lens to focus on the ideational and discursive dynamics of populist power. It defines populism as, at its core, the discursive construction of discontent, as charismatic leaders claiming to speak for the people against the elites use post-truth language to give expression to peoples' grievances, to mobilize them via real and virtual networks of support, and to disseminate their ideas via social and traditional media in order to win elections and then to govern differently. This article deploys the discursive institutionalist framework of analysis to consider the four main features of the discursive construction of populism – the message, the messenger, the medium, and the milieu. Throughout, the article illustrates by considering not only the rise of populist anti-system parties in European countries but also the special challenges this poses for the EU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much of the revived interest in new – populist and/or authoritarian – styles of leadership has been a response to developments, initially in Europe, from the late1980s on, one aspect of which has been a renewed interest in charisma and in plebiscitary leadership. How applicable are approaches to leadership developed primarily in European political science and sociology to contemporary South and Southeast Asia? Building both on Weber's classical account of charismatic authority, and on more recent work, we propose a relational conception of charisma as an interaction between leader and followers. This leader-follower dialectic is a key characteristic of contemporary populist politics. In order to investigate the ways in which populist leaders appeal to followers, we apply this relational conception of charisma to two Asian national cases: India under Narendra Modi and Myanmar under Aung San Suu Kyi during the – now arrested – period of transition from military rule. We shall be primarily concerned with one specific form of charisma: plebiscitary leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the discussion on embedding in collective discursive practices and political engagements. Topics include referring to the role of publicness and democratic influence, philosophy, concerning the question of truth and gender studies; and attributes such as charisma, popularity and fandom often approaching the realms of celebrity and star status.

In the 1970s, the Soviet journalist and writer Aleksandr Prokhanov (born 1938) sought to initiate a new literary aesthetic based on a syncretic vision of technology and spirituality. While he represented an isolated position in conservative circles during the Soviet Union, his enthusiasm for technological modernity is now commonplace among contemporary Russian conservatives. Prokhanov has managed to evolve from the position of a fringe ideologue at the margins of the public sphere in the 1990s to a public figure whose ideas are circulated on state mass media and co-opted by political authorities since the late 2000s. This article studies the formation and circulation of Prokhanov's reactionary modernism across the transition from the Soviet Union to post-Soviet Russia. It claims that Prokhanov's hybrid ideology stems from his dual commitment to an anticonformist intellectual background and a loyalist state patriotism. It argues that, on top of his ability to popularize extremist ideas through their literary aestheticization, Prokhanov has successfully developed the resources of an ideological entrepreneur with leadership capacity and charismatic authority among anti-liberal milieus. In the 2000s, his discourse gained legitimacy, strategic utility and public visibility when these capacities matched a shift in the cultural and political contexts brought about by Vladimir Putin's presidency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of an Islamic infrastructure by Muslims with a migrant background in European contexts has hardly been addressed as expressing a sign of putting down local roots, but rather as an activity that contradicts such a process. However, the various ways in which Muslim migrants have built up local Muslim spaces, both now and in the past, are ordinary modalities of locality production. This is a contentious, complex, and multi-faceted dynamic. By unpacking a historical and a contemporary case, I shall address three broad questions: (1) What are the conditions for Muslim space-making? (2) What are the evolving and contested notions of space and locality that are being produced over time, and what are the religious underpinnings of this process? (3) Who are the main actors and what are the power configurations in which this process unfolds? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the ways in which celebrity identity myths are created, shaped, interpreted and utilised by media, celebrities and consumers. Two working-class female celebrities, Cheryl Cole and Katie Price, provide our focus, and we draw on an analysis of articles in the popular press, celebrity autobiographies and qualitative data collected with 16- to 18-year-olds. We find that class-infused celebrity identity myths (‘celebrity chav’) are constructed in terms of glamour, allure and charisma but also vulgarity, repulsion and ordinariness. Young consumers interpret these myths based on judgements of taste, morality, connection and worthiness and utilise them in order to support the identity goals of distinction, affirmation, belonging and enhancement. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

All regimes, even authoritarian ones, rely on charismatic politicians for legitimacy and mobilization, but popular leaders can also leverage mass followings to advance personal interests. We argue that party-building norms and institutions help ameliorate this dilemma by fostering cultures of collective charisma among prospective leaders. Comparing across single-party regimes in China and Vietnam, we show how recruitment and vetting institutions foster collectivist cultures among rising politicians. Counterintuitively, our analysis also suggests that China's more controlled approach to political cultivation is more prone to instability as it encourages strategic misrepresentation by elite contenders while raising a latent public demand for populists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Half-a-century after his death Max Weber's name is becoming more of a household word within the scholarly community and, perhaps, even beyond, for there is a rock-music band named Max Weber and His Charismatics surviving now for over five years. The mass media today increasingly prostitutionalize some of his carefully formulated concepts of charisma and charismatic leadership, e.g., the labeling of everybody and everything odd or that which is not understood as charismatic, including a loud-mouth reactionary household name of the (hopefully early) seventies. The greater interest in Weber's work among social scientists is justified by several propositions, a few of which will be briefly pointed out. To this writer at least the most important among them is that there seems to be absolutely nothing in his work which could even remotely serve as a source for a messianic doctrine of salvation for mankind in contrast to the writings of many well-known names. No messianic or millennial movements could possibly carry his name, and this appears to be a blessing today in the midst of so much utopian emotionalism. Even a more limited ideological preaching is absent from his legacy. Also, because of his unqualified and absolute humanitarianism, conservative defenses of the established order cannot be hidden behind Weber's name in spite of some attempts made by certain American sociologists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following its move to VH1 in 2017, Season 9 of RuPaul's Drag Race (RPDR) was positioned to capture a larger audience than ever before, boasting the strongest field of competitors in its 'herstory'. This article maps the career trajectory of Season 9 winner Sasha Velour to determine how she distinguishes herself from previous champions. While winners of RPDR are expected to possess the virtues of charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talent, Velour's articulation of fame post RPDR has been informed by charisma and uniqueness, coupled with a consistent performance of an 'authentic' persona. Since winning Season 9, Velour has been an outspoken advocate for the transgender community and the need to diversify drag, in addition to drawing attention from the mainstream fashion industry for her art and style. Drawing inspiration from RPDR's virtues, I argue that the performance of charisma and uniqueness are essential to interpreting the success of the drag celebrity persona as part of the 'fame cycle' beyond RPDR. Velour's star image is distinctive for centring art and activist performance as vital to her public persona across transmedia platforms, allowing for the promotion of positive change for the LGBTQIA community worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research highlights the growth of alternative religious leadership on a global scale. In response, social media have emerged as platforms to compete for religious primacy. Accordingly, the study asks how is online religious authority constructed, re-affirmed and implemented by religious organizations? We contend that through online means, religious organizations are nowadays working to construct a public image to spark charismatic attraction towards institutional leaders. To investigate, we developed a grounded study that captured the full Instagram production of Pope Francis' official account (429 images). Drawing on construal theory, findings demonstrated the strategic management of social, spatial, affective and hypothetical distance, simultaneously corresponding with uncovered facets: hierarchical positioning; geographical locales, haptic engagement, and leaders' visual focus. Thus, we suggest introducing a concept of image-mediated-charisma, and its theoretical framing through digital distance. Concepts that were observed in the religious realm yet can be extended and applied to political or cultural leaders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our research seeks to examine how and when charismatic leadership exercises influence on the creative behavior of teams in the public healthcare sector. Team creativity can contribute to the ongoing healthcare quality improvement as well as organizational growth. Our research proposes a model in which charismatic leadership has a direct impact on team creativity and an indirect impact on it via team job crafting as a mediator, as well as interacts with collective public service motivation to foster team job crafting. By utilizing the data from physicians and nurses in public hospitals in Vietnam, this study provides empirical evidence for the proposed model. Contributions to theory and practice, as well as paths for future research, are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Morality plays an integral role in perceiving and judging fictional characters since liking morally good characters leads to a general enjoyment of the narrative if the outcomes of actions are favorable for the liked character. However, some fictional characters frequently violate moral standards but are still popular at the same time. To explain this paradox, the present study offers a two-process model on the appeal of morally ambiguous characters, proposing psychological mechanisms leading to either enjoyment or appreciation. These mechanisms were tested based on an online survey (N = 429) examining four different television series which featured morally ambiguous protagonists. Findings largely supported the notion that while liking the character leads to enjoyment, social comparison processes (based on moral principles) were associated with appreciation. This study extends findings of previous investigations by offering a more comprehensive understanding of how morally complex narratives can lead to entertainment experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]