ABSTRACT

The term ‘charisma’ derives from a refer ence in the New Testament’s Corinthians II, which describes the forms in which the gifts of divine grace appear. The term was secu lar ised by Max Weber in the early twen ti eth century.1 Weber was concerned that a charis matic style of lead er ship might emerge to chal lenge what he saw as the exist ing two main forms of polit ical legit im acy – the tradi tional and the legal-rational. Weber depic ted charisma as having three main dimen sions:

1 The charis matic leader, who is someone char ac ter ised by (super fi cially at least) traits such as a sense of radical mission, self-confid ence and rhet or ical skills.