Charisma and agrarian crisis: Authority and legitimacy at multiple scales for rural development

Abstract

Crisis provides opportunities for social and environmental reorganization. States claimed responsibility for much agrarian development during the first half of the 20th century through massive development projects in countries like India and the United States, but rural communities now encounter a plurality of legitimate responses to crisis. As Max Weber and his critics have shown, crises are opportunities for charismatic actors who may appear in the form of programs, tools, plants, and leaders – provided they assemble a passionate coalition of political supporters and offer a way to fulfill an aspiration derailed by the crisis. Plural models of alternative agrarian development reorganize political, social, and ecological relationships through commodities and didactic educational programs. In each case, charisma is tied to political relationships with potential for both collective action and violent Othering. Case studies from Indian agriculture at three scales show how such crises break from state and local programs, and how charismatic entities capitalize on that void to forge new alliances.