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The personalization of politics is one of the most widespread and consequential political phenomena in contemporary democracies and beyond. This process provides individual leaders with increasing political weight, at the expense of collective political actors. This change affects party organizations, governments, parliaments, and electoral campaigns. In some cases, strong political leaders who benefit from this scenario exercise a charismatic type of leadership, which is based on supporters’ recognition of exceptional qualities and skills. Yet not all personalized leaderships are also charismatic. This panel invites papers that aim to improve our knowledge on the relationship between political personalization, charisma, and democratic governance. In particular, the panel is interested in studies that treat charismatic leadership either as ‘dependent’ or ‘independent’ variable. What are the political, social, economic, or psychological conditions that favor the establishment and success of charismatic leaders? What are the effects of charismatic leaderships on party systems, political decision-making, and public policy? Do they have an impact on the quality and strength of democratic regimes? The panel is open to conceptual, theoretical, and/or empirical papers and welcomes diverse methodological approaches.