ABSTRACT

This analysis uses Walden Bello’s notion of charismatic politics to explain why ordinary people as voters have been complicit with the authoritarian politics of Donald Trump in the USA and Jacob Zuma in South Africa. In both cases, the authoritarian has displayed the capacity to connect with the masses by exploiting the yawning gap between popular aspirations and the messy realities of liberal democracy. Although, given the different contexts, they are different, the authoritarianisms of Trump and Zuma are not only charismatic, but share the quality of buffoonery, the capacity to attract popular support by acting out the charlatan and the fool. Yet the leader who combines charismatic authoritarianism with buffoonery is dangerous, presenting a threat to democracy which in the case of Trump is global and Zuma was local.

摘要

该分析使用瓦尔登·贝洛（Walden Bello）的超凡魅力政治概念来解释为什么普通选民与美国的唐纳德·特朗普和南非的雅各布·祖玛的威权政治同谋。在这两种情况下，独裁者都表现出了通过利用大众愿望与自由民主的凌乱现实之间不断扩大的鸿沟来与群众联系的能力。尽管在不同情况下它们是不同的，但特朗普和祖玛的威权主义不仅具有超凡魅力，而且具有洋气的品质，并具有通过表现出流氓和傻瓜来吸引民众支持的能力。然而，将魅力独裁的专制主义与布法礼相结合的领导人是危​​险的，这对民主构成了威胁，在特朗普的情况下，民主是全球性的，祖马是地方性的。