Virtual icon Democracy and Populism: Leadership and the Many Faces of Personalisation

Abstract

Chair: Oscar Mazzoleni, University of Lausanne Speaker: Lorenzo Viviani, University of Pisa Discussant: Carlo Ruzza, University of Trento This paper discusses the political-sociological dynamics of the personalisation of leadership in contemporary democracies, with a particular focus on the distinction between leader democracy and populist leader democracy. The aim is to provide a theoretical framework for comparative empirical research on the impact of different trajectories of personalisation on contemporary democracies. Processes of individualisation, dealignment and disintermediation increasingly define advanced democratic regimes, making the personalisation of politics a central feature of contemporary democracy. From a constructivist perspective, political leaders are increasingly emerging as key actors in articulating representative claims within evolving models of contemporary political representation. Within this context, populism radicalises the plebiscitary relationship between leader and people, politicising social resentment and fear of loss in advanced modern societies. Populist personalisation relies on the symbolic identification of the leader with a morally unified and imagined people, bypassing intermediaries and reconfiguring the foundations of democratic accountability. This particular form of populist plebiscitarianism challenges representative democracy not only institutionally but also culturally, recasting political legitimacy in terms of affective resonance, embodiment, and moral dichotomies. It politicises differential nativism and the resentment of a people who feel betrayed by elites, cosmopolitanism, and globalisation. The paper offers a critical comparison between populist leader democracy and leader democracy, the latter grounded in the logic of democratic elitism and electoral legitimacy. Finally, from a political sociological perspective, the analysis underlines the differences between populist and charismatic personalisation, offering a typology that clarifies their different trajectories and implications. It demonstrates how populist personalisation enacts a representational shift: from authorisation to identification, and from democratic responsiveness to strategically manipulated resonance. This shift has profound implications for the legitimacy of democratic institutions, the fragmentation of the public sphere, and the viability of pluralist representation.