Charismatic Authority and the Leadership of Fidel Castro

Fagen, Richard R.

doi:10.2307/444996

Cited by 27 publications

(9 citation statements)

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“…4 However, there is also an important strand of authors in Cuban studies (e.g. Domínguez, 1978;Eckstein, 1994;Fagen, 1965;Valdés, 2001) who have indeed understood Fidel's charismatic authority as a relational category, and who have consequently paid more attention to the opportunity structures in which he acted. Fidel's charismatic appeal was due not only to his fl amboyant rhetoric on the Plaza but also to the redistributive measures his government enacted, which to many Cubans proved the credibility of his commitment to radically break with a past associated with corruption and social exclusion.…”

Section: The Nature Of the Beast: A Case Of "Charismatic State Socialmentioning

confidence: 99%

Charismatic Authority and Leadership Change: Lessons from Cuba's Post-Fidel Succession

Hoffmann

2009

International Political Science Review

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When Max Weber introduced the concept of “charismatic authority” into the social sciences, acknowledging its great transformative potential, he stressed its inherent problem of succession. This proposition has been tested in the case of one of the most emblematic charismatic leaders in modern politics, Cuba's longtime revolutionary leader Fidel Castro. When he fell ill in 2006, conventional wisdom assumed a major crisis of succession to be inevitable. So how was it possible that the Cuban regime was able to stage a gradual and orderly succession? In addressing this question, the article identifies four key ways in which the empirical experience of the post-Fidel succession challenges our theoretical understanding of the link between charismatic authority and political leadership change.

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Section: The Nature Of the Beast: A Case Of "Charismatic State Socialmentioning

confidence: 99%

Charismatic Authority and Leadership Change: Lessons from Cuba's Post-Fidel Succession

Hoffmann

2009

International Political Science Review

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“…22 While Fagen saw this charisma as positive, Gonzalez saw it as an obstacle to consolidation. Although Richard Fagen had already talked of ' charismatic authority', Gonzalez studied the 'systems ' of personalist control under a leader subordinating all institutions to his authority, political skills and personal loyalty.…”

Section: The Triple Politicisation Of Interpretationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does Cuba Fit Yet or Is It Still ‘Exceptional’?

Kapcia¹

2008

J. Lat. Am. Stud.

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Much of the external literature on the Cuban Revolution has been characterised by two dichotomies between ' exceptionalism ' on the hand and the application of non-Cuban paradigms on the other, and that between Fidel-focussed interpretations and more systemic perspectives. This article examines the evolution of these dichotomies, from initial enthusiasm or condemnation, through an emerging awareness of a historical dimension, a focus on the social revolution, and new disenchantments, to the emergence of a less polemical attention to detail before the post-1991 return to type. In the light of this trajectory, new approaches are suggested to break with these patterns, while acknowledging the challenges for exogenous research.

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“…A final cluster of arguments explains regime outcome as the result of sui generis characteristics of the political leadership. The explanation is that the leadership of Cuba's 26th of July Movement (26JM), the guerrilla group that took over after Batista, held values that were anathema to liberal democracy: extremism, hypernationalism, radicalism, and violence, plus an uncanny strategic capacity to outsmart enemies and dis-dain for liberal rights (Suchlicki 1997;Szulc 1988;Harnecker 1987;Gonzilez 1974;Suarez 1967;Fagen 1965). Venezuelan elites were different, the argument goes.…”

Section: Traditional Explanations For Regime Changementioning

confidence: 99%

Strong Societies, Weak Parties: Regime Change in Cuba and Venezuela in the 1950s and Today

Corrales¹

2001

Lat. Am. polit. soc.

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The literature on the origins of democratic institutions is split between bottom‐up and top‐down approaches. The former emphasize societal factors that press for democracy; the latter, rules and institutions that shape elites' incentives. Can these approaches be reconciled? This article proposes competitive political parties, more so than degrees of modernization and associationalism, as the link between the two. Competitive political parties enhance society's bargaining power with the state and show dominant elites that liberalization is in their best interest; the parties are thus effective conduits of democracy. In the context of party deficit, the prospects for democratization or redemocratization are slim. This is illustrated by comparing Cuba and Venezuela in the 1950s and 1330s.

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Charismatic Authority and the Leadership of Fidel Castro

Cited by 27 publications

References 0 publications

Charismatic Authority and Leadership Change: Lessons from Cuba's Post-Fidel Succession

Charismatic Authority and Leadership Change: Lessons from Cuba's Post-Fidel Succession

Does Cuba Fit Yet or Is It Still ‘Exceptional’?

Strong Societies, Weak Parties: Regime Change in Cuba and Venezuela in the 1950s and Today

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