Populismo, carisma e democrazia. Genealogia weberiana di un rapporto instabile

The figure of the charismatic leader who embodies “the people” lies at the center of contemporary theories of populism, on both the right and the left. Yet this centrality creates a tension within populist politics itself: the leader-people relationship often de- politicizes the masses while concentrating power in the leader. This essay examines key theories of populism, focusing in particular on Ernesto Laclau, Chantal Mouffe, and Federico Tarragoni, and argues that each encounters theoretical contradictions when addressing charismatic leadership. It also reassesses the role of Weber’s concept of cha- risma. Whereas many populist theorists remain tied to charisma as a personal quality of the leader, Weber developed a broader understanding that combined a critique of the depoliticizing leader-masses relationship with the idea of an “official charisma” of democracy as a form of objective self-legitimation. In this way, Weber opened the pos- sibility of a democratic charisma detached from the individual leader – one capable of sustaining, rather than obstructing, the institutionalization of popular power.