Vito Bobek

Donald J. Trump’s transformation from media-savvy mogul to dominant political figure ushered in a new era of American democracy—one defined as much by MAGA spectacle as by substance. His ascent, initially dismissed by the political establishment, unfolded as a populist insurgency rooted in performative nationalism, digital mastery, and mass political theater. The MAGA movement, with its visceral appeal and symbolic defiance, became both a rallying cry and a governing ethos, enabling Trump to bypass conventional media channels and forge direct emotional ties with disaffected voters. This chapter examines the architecture of Trump’s rise, from his symbolic disruption of elite political culture to his strategic hijacking of the Republican Party’s institutional machinery. It explores the affective and discursive mechanisms—spectacle, schism, and personalization—that enabled Trump not only to capture the presidency but to reshape the grammar of governance itself. Drawing on political sociology, media theory, and campaign strategy, this analysis situates Trump’s leadership within broader trends of democratic backsliding, epistemic fragmentation, and performative populism. Even beyond his presidency, Trump’s influence endures: as kingmaker, party disciplinarian, and avatar of political grievance. His legacy is etched into the polarized landscape of electoral strategy, institutional power, and public discourse, challenging scholars and citizens alike to reckon with a democracy reordered by charisma, confrontation, and ideological rupture. In tracing this transformation, the chapter offers a conceptual framework for understanding MAGA not as a deviation, but as a defining spectacle of twenty-first-century American political life.

The 2024 U.S. election cycle represents a critical juncture in American politics, with leadership styles playing a pivotal role in shaping voter perceptions and electoral outcomes. This chapter comprehensively analyzes leadership dynamics across the presidential, congressional, and gubernatorial races, emphasizing how leadership traits influence polling data, predictive models, and voter decision-making. Kamala Harris, now the Democratic candidate, and Donald Trump, the Republican contender, offer starkly different leadership styles, each reflecting broader ideological divides within the electorate. Harris’s focus on inclusivity and social justice contrasts with Trump’s populist and authoritarian approach, highlighting the importance of leadership in navigating a polarized political landscape. Furthermore, the chapter examines the role of political parties in fostering polarization, the impact of religious institutions on the electorate, and the broader implications for political leadership in both the United States and globally. Leadership qualities, including crisis management, charisma, and the ability to unify or divide, are examined as critical determinants in the outcome of the 2024 elections and in shaping the future of democratic governance. Analytically, the chapter frames presidential leadership as a sociological problem of authority, legitimation, and field position. Drawing on Weber’s typology of authority (charismatic, traditional, rational-legal), Bourdieu’s concepts of field, habitus, and symbolic capital, Foucault’s power/knowledge, and systems theory, we link micro-level leadership performances to meso-level party organizations and macro-level institutional constraints. We also integrate resource-dependence dynamics (finance, data, media attention) to explain how campaigns translate cultural capital into political power.

The 2024 US Presidential Election analyzes the multi-level impact of money, media, and celebrity on electoral politics. This study explores how such variables influence electoral behavior, campaign tactics, and democratic integrity. Money, especially dark money groups, was critical to allowing targeted advertising and outreach to enough voters, yet it led to a lack of transparency and equity. Persistent here were media outlets, old and new alike, as double-edged swords; anything they could do to make campaign narratives reverberate to the people, but at the same time, they could not get rid of the fakes or echo chambers attached to it. Celebrity endorsements, represented by ones from throngs like Taylor Swift and Dwayne Johnson, galvanized eras of voters but also ignited ethical battles about the trivialization of political dialogue. The analysis discusses efforts, opportunities, and challenges for future campaigns and explains the persistence of the impact of analyzing information in this way. They suggest implementing stricter regulations on campaign financing, increasing accountability in media, promoting media literacy among voters, and ensuring that the advancement of technology does not outweigh ethical practices. That is a jarring reminder of human decision-making’s messiness and sometimes selfishness. It provides important lessons on the realities of modern electoral politics while equipping candidates, policymakers, and voters with the tools they need to protect democracy. Analytically, the chapter treats money, media, and celebrity as interlocking structures of authority and influence. In Weberian terms, campaign resources and gatekeeping institutions (parties, platforms, PACs) convert charismatic appeals into—or away from—rational-legal legitimacy. In Bourdieu’s field perspective, donors, media, and celebrities transact different forms of capital (economic, cultural, symbolic), shaping who appears credible and to whom. Foucault’s power/knowledge highlights how “truth technologies” (polls, fact-checks, platform policies) produce credibility effects; resource-dependence theory explains how fundraising, data access, and platform reach structure strategic choice.

This chapter explores the reasons behind the Democratic Party’s decline and the conditions under which the Republican Party succeeded in controlling all three branches of government (trifecta) through the 2024 US elections. It dives deep into the decay of the Democratic Party’s traditional indoor plumbing in the blue-wall states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, driven by economic frustration, cultural agitation, and demographic change. The analysis emphasizes specific policy miscalculations, internal rifts in the Democratic coalition, and failures to energize key voter demographics, including young and minority voters. Conversely, the Republican Party’s message, emphasizing economic stability, public safety, and shared cultural values, alongside access to superior voter-targeting technologies and community mobilization, positioned the Party as equipped to address voters’ priorities. The broader implications for US democracy are also important themes in this chapter, categorized in terms of the pernicious risks associated with increased polarization, the impact of governance under a one-party umbrella, and the changing nature of leadership and grassroots efforts to shape electoral landscapes. Leveraging these insights, the chapter discusses implications for electoral strategy and the dynamics of political competition in an increasingly polarized age. This chapter adopts a multidisciplinary approach, combining political science, sociology, and electoral studies to provide a comprehensive analysis of the 2024 elections. Data from reputable sources, including Pew Research Center and Brookings Institution, forms the empirical foundation for examining voter behavior, policy priorities, and campaign dynamics. Qualitative insights from scholarly articles and media reports supplement the quantitative analysis, offering a nuanced understanding of the interplay between economic, cultural, and technological factors. By examining these interconnected dimensions, this chapter aims to provide both an explanatory and prescriptive framework for understanding the implications of the 2024 elections.

Presidential approval ratings are among the most frequently cited indicators of executive performance, yet their political meaning remains contested. This chapter argues that presidential approval should be understood not as a precise measure of governing competence, but as a volatile and context-dependent signal of political accountability. Drawing on longitudinal approval data and postwar midterm election outcomes in the United States, the analysis demonstrates that approval ratings consistently correlate with institutional consequences, most visibly congressional seat losses during midterm elections. Rather than interpreting approval as an endpoint of popular evaluation, the chapter situates it within broader structural dynamics, including partisan polarization, contrast effects with predecessors, crisis-driven opinion shifts, and voter loss aversion. Through a clustered analysis of historical presidencies, the chapter shows that midterm elections function as corrective mechanisms within the separation-of-powers system, allowing voters to rebalance political authority independently of their general assessment of presidential leadership. By reframing approval ratings as noisy yet structurally meaningful signals, this chapter contributes to presidency studies by integrating public opinion research with institutional analysis. The findings underscore both the analytical value and the limitations of approval data, emphasizing their role in illuminating patterns of democratic accountability rather than serving as definitive indicators of executive performance.

This chapter explores the presidency as a psychosociological institution—one that not only governs but emotionally choreographs the nation’s racial dynamics. Drawing from sociology, political psychology, and affect theory, it examines how presidential campaigns mobilize racial emotion to shape identity, strategy, and coalition formation. Focusing on the 2016 and 2024 U.S. elections, the chapter analyzes how racialized affect—resentment, pride, grief, and fear—was weaponized through digital media, symbolic rhetoric, and strategic silence. Donald Trump’s campaigns exemplified the algorithmic presidency, where emotional provocation and racial signaling were optimized for engagement. In contrast, Kamala Harris’s historic candidacy revealed the limits of representation without emotional resonance or intersectional fluency. The chapter situates these dynamics within a global context, tracing parallel developments in Europe’s populist resurgence, Australasia’s Indigenous justice debates, and Africa’s youth-led demands for dignity. It argues that multiracial coalitions fracture not only due to policy neglect but because of emotional misalignment—when campaigns fail to validate lived experience or narrate belonging. Key concepts include emotional intelligence as political infrastructure, intersectionality as strategic literacy, and narrative justice as a tool for democratic renewal. In essence, the chapter calls for a reimagining of presidential leadership—one that centers radical empathy, psychosocial insight, and sociological depth. It offers a framework for coalition repair and moral governance in an era of digital fragmentation and racialized spectacle.

Renewable energy communities (RECs) are increasingly recognised as important instruments for accelerating the transition towards decentralised, low-carbon energy systems. However, technological progress and supportive policies alone cannot ensure their success, as participation depends largely on citizens’ behavioural readiness. This study investigates the behavioural determinants of participation in renewable energy communities by extending the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) with four motivational dimensions: environmental, economic, technical, and social. A quantitative cross-sectional survey of 174 household electricity users in Slovenia was analysed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). The findings show that environmental and economic motivations were positively associated with Attitudes, Technical Motivation was positively associated with Perceived Behavioural Control, and Social Motivation was positively associated with Subjective Norms. These TPB constructs are positively associated with behavioural readiness to participate in renewable energy communities. A supplementary exploratory multi-group analysis suggested possible differences between prosumers and conventional consumers. Prosumer status reflected individual household renewable electricity production and not verified REC membership, while Behavioural Readiness captured prospective stated intention and willingness rather than observed participation. However, because the prosumer subgroup comprised only 15 respondents, these group-specific patterns should be interpreted cautiously and require confirmation in larger and more balanced samples. The study extends the Theory of Planned Behaviour by integrating a multidimensional motivational framework and conceptualises participation in renewable energy communities as a socio-technical behavioural process. The findings provide empirically informed insights for policymakers, municipalities, and renewable energy community developers seeking to support citizens’ behavioural readiness to participate in renewable energy communities.

The study focuses on the integration of Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS) into three types of software solutions (ERP, ATS, LMS) and their impact on human resource management. A qualitative comparative approach was employed, involving semistructure d interviews with 10 HR, IT, and line managers in Poland and Austria. The review yielded four central themes: efficiency and effectiveness, user experiences, integration challenges, and recommendations. Integration was cited as a way to improve data quality, expedite decision making, and enable advanced workforce analytics - especially in digital-savvy organisations. Resistance to users shifting into consensus due to the use of isomorphic representations was recorded in the Technology Acceptance Model. The small sample size and regional nature of the study constitute its limitations. It helps managers understand how integrated HR systems may affect organisational efficiency and coordination. This study combines several theoretical perspectives to reveal the nature and strategies of HRIS integration.