Charisma und Komplexität

Für Renate Mayntz zum siebzigsten Geburtstag

Abstract

Modern democracies can be characterized by two partly conflicting but reinforcing developments. First of all, new modes of political decision making and conflict mediation based on negotiation systems and policy networks have been emerging. This transformation of modern democracies into “negotiating democracies” is said to be a functional necessity in order to cope with the increasing functional, social and institutional complexity of modern political systems. In addition, recent developments in Western democracies indicate that — promoted by electronic mass media — the role of personality and the symbolic function of political elites have become of increasing importance in politics. Referring to Max Weber’s concept of “charisma”, this article argues that both developments are closely linked. It is the increasing complexity of modern political systems which fosters new forms of charismatic political leadership. Their function is to reduce the complexity of politics and policies for ordinary citizens thus making politics and policies more visible and reliable. As a result modern democracies are faced with growing tensions between the functional requirements of the “negotiating democracy” on the one hand and the demands of the “media democracy” on the other hand.