Postmodern Personality Cults : Trump, Putin, and the Co-Creation of Charismatic Authority in the Digital Age

This book introduces a new conceptual understanding of personality cults for the digital age. Using Putin and Trump as case studies, Sundahl demonstrates how today’s leaders exercise far less control over their visual narratives, bridging theories of charismatic authority and the postmodern society to reconceptualize personality cults.

With this book, Anne-Mette Holmgård Sundahl introduces a new conceptual understanding of personality cults for the digital age. Departing from existing literature on the topic, that largely focuses on elite interactions and propaganda in undemocratic and closed regimes, the book foregrounds the crucial role of bottom-up participation in shaping contemporary personality cults. The core premise is that postmodern personality cults operate in a fundamentally different communicative and societal environment from their 20th-century predecessors. Using Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump as case studies, Sundahl demonstrates how today’s leaders exercise far less control over their visual narratives. Elements of memeification, satire, and commodification allow the cult public to actively co-create and thus validate or subvert the cult. Yet this apparent loss of control does not necessarily weaken the leader. On the contrary, attention – whether positive or negative – often fuels the authority of postmodern cult leaders, who thrive on visibility and controversy. Subversive portrayals intended to undermine the leader's charismatic claims may intensify polarisation, provoke loyal supporters, and ultimately reaffirm the leader’s larger-than-life status. This book bridges theories of charismatic authority and the postmodern society to reconceptualise personality cults as co-produced from above and below. Postmodern Personality Cults will be of particular interest to scholars interested in political legitimacy and political communication in the age of social media.