ABSTRACT
In Max Weber’s discussion of charisma, the leader’s authority is based on his God-given gift of grace. The masses, having recognised the leader’s charismatic qualities of genuine greatness, follow out of a sense of duty and blindly submit their loyalty. 1 This chapter questions the extent to which the leader, in this case Gamal ‘Abd al-Nasser (1918–70), was innately born with charismatic qualities. Although he is widely credited with having possessed vaguely defined ‘charisma’, in what follows it will be argued that eliciting this recognition involved a large measure of active, intentional promotion and propagation. 2
