Política e carisma: o caso de Afonso Dhlakama (2013-2017)

Abstract

This paper is part of the studies on politics in Mozambique. The main argument is that an important way to understand Afonso Dhlakama as a political phenomenon is through the Weberian concept of charisma. Thus using the sociology of domination of Max Weber explores the interpretative potential of the concept of charisma to broaden our understanding of Afonso Dhlakama's relationship with followers. The research is based on an exploratory study of documents (videos) of popular rallies, conferences and press conference calls, press interviews and the writing of national and international newspapers, from 2013 to 2017. The results of the research indicate that, despite Afonso Dhlakama appears primarily as a democrat or promoter of democracy, the kind of relationship he forges with followers can best be understood as the product of a social crisis and therefore focused on the extra-marital character of the leader, whose follow-up is not. Therefore, neither because of a supposed tradition, or even by a statutory or legal framework. The coerced material typifies situations of charismatic leadership in which the leader has a corresponding expectation of follow-up, even not obeying or being guided by the law.