As it radically alters the arrangement of social forces, the Revolution fosters the
emergence of new power paradigms distinct from those dominant in the time of
relative calm. In particular, the material infrastructural disintegration is often
accompanied by the refutation of the bureaucratic authority (in Weberian sense) and
the subsequent replacement thereof with the system of power relations designated by
the author as the "politics of proximity." In such circumstances, the individual
charisma begins to play an increasingly important role, evolving not only into a
symbol of the "revolutionary immediacy" (as opposed to bureaucratic mediation), but
also into a factor with a power to shape the form of the political modus operandi in
the post-revolutionary period.
