Professional Affiliation

Researcher, University of Zurich; Head of Continuing Education, Institute of Mass Communication and Media Research (IPMZ).

Expert Bio

Dr. Erik Jentges is an interdisciplinary researcher working on social theory and political communication. He received his doctorate in sociology in 2009 at Humboldt University Berlin, Germany. As a senior teaching and research associate in the mass communication and media studies department, he has been affiliated with the NCCR Democracy at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. Research interests cover: theory of political representation; process sociology and field theory, interest groups, conceptual work on charisma and power

Wilson Center Project

"Political Capital and Charismatic Leadership: Comparing US Presidents and Swiss Federal Councilors"

Project Summary

The project outlines the theoretical foundation of charismatic authority and draws on the works of Pierre Bourdieu and Norbert Elias to go beyond Max Weber's influential conceptualization of charisma. Starting with the observation that in the US presidential system, many presidents and politically influential figures have been characterized as ‘charismatic’ whereas ‘charismatic’ is hardly ever used to describe Swiss federal councilors or politically influential figures, a central research question is: why are American presidents seemingly more charismatic than Swiss federal councilors? The theory will be illustrated with a set of case studies from the US and Switzerland.