ABSTRACT
What is the relationship between populism and charismatic leadership? And does charisma affect populist success? This chapter undertakes to answer these questions through a theoretical reconceptualization of political charisma and its empirical application to a large number of cases from contemporary Europe. It arrives at two conclusions: First, the long-presumed linkage between populism and charismatic leadership is surprisingly weak; second, where it exists, political charisma shows a remarkably strong correlation with populist success, and hence becomes one of its major explanatory variables.
