Charismatic Legitimacy

charismatic legitimacy is in many ways the very opposite of traditional legitimacy. When we use the word charisma in everyday conversation, we usually are describing someone who is good-looking or perhaps a witty conversationalist. But in politics, charisma means much more. Rather than relying on the weight of history and the continuity of certain roles or values, charismatic legitimacy is based on the power of ideas, or what is sometimes called "the gift of grace." Charisma is typically embodied by one individual, who can move the public through these ideas and the manner in which she or he presents them. Some individuals possess a certain magnetism that binds who they are to what they say. Jesus and Muhammad are perfect examples of charismatic figures who could gather huge followings through the power of their ideas. In a more modern and more sinister example, Adolf Hitler can also be viewed as a charismatic figure. If we look at pictures of Hitler today, we might think it strange that this unattractive man could so dominate a country and plunge Europe into genocide and war. Yet it is not physical apppearance, but rather the force of ideas and power with language, that makes charisma possible

Politics the practice and theory of influencing other people on a civic or individual level. More narrowly, it refers to achieving and exercising positions of governance — organized control over a human community, particularly a state. A variety of methods are employed in politics, which include promoting one's own political views among people, negotiation with other political subjects, making laws, and exercising force, including warfare against adversaries. Politics is exercised on a wide range of social levels, from clans and tribes of traditional societies, through modern local governments, companies and institutions up to sovereign states, to the international level.

A political system is a framework which defines acceptable political methods within a given