ABSTRACT
Bureaucratic centralism, a trait of Nazism and Communism alike, surfaces in Max Weber study of the situation of constitutional democracy in Russia–or better, its absence. Weber held that there were essentially three types of authority: traditional forms based on dynastic inheritance; rational-legal varieties based on a broad acceptance of rules and norms; and charismatic authority predicated on faith in a person of exceptional qualities of either a secular or clerical sort. Weber had to introduce the notion of charisma, or personality, in a public setting, as a fourth distinct area of political sociology in order to account for real world combinations and recombinations of state power. Weber understood that only when rational-legal authority is secure could the state overcome the problem of apathy, alienation, and ultimately, a crisis in legitimate authority. An area in need of far greater emphasis than it received at the hands of Weber is the relationship between electoral politics and state legitimacy.
