Charisma and Democracy: Leaders, Followers, and Political (Un)Accountability in Latin America.

The International Issues Discussion (IID) series at Toronto Metropolitan University is proud to present its fourth talk of the Winter 2024 series: "Charisma and Democracy: Leaders, Followers,and Political (Un)Accountability in Latin America." 

The guest will be Dr. Caitlin Andrews-Lee, Assistant Professor in the Department of Politics and Public Administration at Toronto Metropolitan University. Her research focuses primarily on Latin America and investigates how leaders cultivate charismatic attachments with voters to garner support, consolidate power, and undermine democratic accountability. She has published an award-winning book with Cambridge University Press on this topic, The Emergence and Revival of Charismatic Movements: Argentine Peronism and Venezuelan Chavismo, as well as peer-reviewed articles in several academic journals. Her current research examines the gendered structure of charismatic authority and investigates under what conditions women can defy expectations and establish charismatic legitimacy as executive leaders.

Her talk will be held in-person on Wednesday, March 27th between 6:30 and 8:30 pm in ENG 103 (the Vari Engineering Building, 245 Church Street, Toronto). Attendance is free and everyone is welcome.  

Founded in 2005, the IID is a non-partisan, student-led forum designed to engage all members of the TMU community on major events and issues in contemporary global affairs through reasoned, objective, and scholarly discourse.