ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that trickery, in a sociological framework, should be understood as the antithesis of charisma. If charisma, in its Weberian version, is the inspiration and the guidance to construct a new social order, that is (a) a new meaning of social identity, and (b) a new set of routine social interactions, then trickery is the dissolution of social identity and the suspension of routine social life. The chapter examines the case of Alexis Tsipras and his radical party SYRIZA that came to power in Greece in 2015 amidst the great fiscal/social crisis that engulfed Greece in 2010. It examines the self-proclaimed charismatic nature of party and its leader, and proceeds in analysing the actions of both of them, examining them not normatively, but structurally. The structural analysis suggests that while their rise to prominence was caused by the liminality the crisis brought to Greece, their actual governance (2015–2019) was characterized by perpetuating and deepening liminal processes and assaulting opposition in the name of their antinomian purity and their mission to save the world from capitalistic corruption. In conclusion, while charisma could be defined as an exit from liminality, trickery is defined with perpetuating liminality.
