11.1.5: The Transfer of Authority

 11.1.5: The Transfer of Authority 

The orderly transfer of authority from one leader to another is crucial for social stability. Under traditional authority, people know who is next in line. Under rational–legal authority, people might not know who the next leader will be, but they do know how that person will be selected, which precedes the transfer of authority. Even though a newly elected leader represents ideas extremely different from the predecessor, such as the transition from President Barack Obama to President Donald Trump, the transition of ​authority​/​power stil​l occurs. South Africa provides another example. This country had been ripped apart by decades of racial–ethnic strife, including horrible killings committed by each side. Yet, by maintaining its rational–legal authority, the country was able to transfer power from the dominant group led by President Ferdinand de Klerk to the minority group led by Nelson Mandela. Because charismatic authority has no rules of succession, it is less stable than either traditional or rational–legal authority. With charismatic authority built around a single individual, the death or incapacitation of a charismatic leader can mean a bitter struggle for succession. To avoid this, some charismatic leaders make arrangements for an orderly transition of power by appointing a successor. This step does not guarantee orderly succession, since the followers may not share the leader’s confidence in the designated heir. A second strategy is for the charismatic leader to build an organization. As the organization develops rules or regulations, it transforms itself into a rational–legal organization. Weber used the term routinization of charisma to refer to the transition of authority from a charismatic leader to either traditional or rational–legal authority. The transfer of authority in Cuba after Fidel Castro became ill is a remarkable example. Castro was a charismatic leader, attracting enough followers to overthrow Cuba’s government. He ruled through a combination of personal charisma and bureaucratic machinery. Castro set up an organized system to transfer authority to his noncharismatic brother, Raul, who, in turn, made certain that authority was transferred in an orderly manner to the state bureaucracies (Bolliger 2018).