- Family dictatorship
A family dictatorship, in political science terms a personalistic regime, is a form of
dictatorship that operates much like anabsolute monarchy , yet occurs in a nominallyrepublic an state. That is to say, the key leader is apresident orprime minister and not aking oremperor .Fact|date=August 2007When the dictator of a family dictatorship dies, one of his relatives (usually his son) becomes the new ruler of the country. This transition often occurs after years of "grooming" the dictator's successor as
heir apparent .Fact|date=August 2007What makes a family dictatorship unique is that this hereditary
order of succession is not formally enshrined in law, as it is in amonarchy .Fact|date=August 2007uccessful transitions of power
Dates in parentheses denote the period of rule.
*England :Oliver Cromwell (1653-1658) succeeded by his sonRichard Cromwell (1658-1659)*
Paraguay :José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia (1814-1840), succeeded by his nephewCarlos Antonio López (1840-1862), succeeded by "his" son,Francisco Solano López (1862-1870)*
Costa Rica :Tomás Guardia Gutiérrez (1870-1876, "de facto" 1876-1877, 1877-1882), succeeded by his brother-in-lawPróspero Fernández Oreamuno (1882-1885), succeeded by "his" posthumous son-in-lawBernardo Soto Alfaro (1885-1890)*
El Salvador : Carlos Meléndez (1915-1918), succeeded by his brotherJorge Meléndez (1919-1923), succeeded by "his" brother-in-lawAlfonso Quiñónez Molina ("acting" 1918-1919, 1923-1927)*
Nicaragua :Anastasio Somoza García (1937-1947, 1950-1956), succeeded by his sonLuis Somoza Debayle (1956-1963, "de facto" 1963-1967), succeeded by "his" brotherAnastasio Somoza Debayle (1967-1972, "de facto" 1972-1974, 1974-1979)*
North Korea :Kim Il-sung (1948-1994), succeeded by his sonKim Jong-il (1994- ). Kim Jong-il didn't officially take office until 1997, when his father was given the position of Eternal President.*
Haiti :François Duvalier (1957-1971), succeeded by his sonJean-Claude Duvalier (1971-1986)*
Togo :Gnassingbé Eyadéma (1967-2005), succeeded by his sonFaure Gnassingbé (2005- ). Under international pressure, Faure had to resign onFebruary 25 ,2005 , but was re-elected in April.*
Syria :Hafez al-Assad (1971-2000), succeeded by his sonBashar al-Assad (2000- ). Bashar's elder brother,Basil al-Assad , had been designated for the presidency but died in 1994, six years prior to his father's death.*
Djibouti :Hassan Gouled Aptidon (1977-1999), succeeded by his nephewIsmail Omar Guelleh (1999- )*
Azerbaijan :Heydar Aliyev (1993-2003), succeeded by his sonIlham Aliyev (2003- )*Congo-Kinshasa:
Laurent-Désiré Kabila (1997-2001), succeeded by his sonJoseph Kabila (2001- ). Joseph Kabila was democratically elected in October 2006.*
Cuba :Fidel Castro (prime minister 1959-1976, president 1976-2008), succeeded on an interim basis and later permanently by his brother,Raúl Castro (acting president 2006-2008, president 2008- )Indirect successions
*
Republic of China (from 1949 on Taiwan):Chiang Kai-shek (1928-1975) indirectly succeeded by his sonChiang Ching-kuo (1978-1988)*
Singapore :Lee Kuan Yew (1965-1990) indirectly succeeded asPrime Minister of Singapore by his sonLee Hsien Loong (2004-incumbent)*
United States of America :George H.W. Bush (1989-1993) indirectly succeeded asPresident of the United States by his sonGeorge W. Bush (2001-incumbent)Unsuccessful transitions of power
*
Dominican Republic :Rafael Trujillo ("de facto" 1930-1961, with brother Héctor serving as figurehead president 1952-1960), nominally succeeded by his sonRamfis Trujillo for a few months in 1961; Ramfis failed to fully consolidate his power over the country and was overthrown.*
Romania :Nicolae Ceauşescu 's heir apparent was his sonNicu Ceauşescu . [Vladimir Tismăneanu , "Stalinism pentru eternitate",Polirom ,Iaşi , 2005 ISBN 973-681-899-3 p.295]*
Zaire :Mobutu Sese Seko 's heir apparent was his son Nyiwa, who held several cabinet posts and was being groomed to succeed his father; [http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+zr0146)] however, this succession never came to fruition, as not only was Nyiwa killed byAIDS in 1994, [ [http://www.lefaso.net/article.php3?id_article=5300 RDC : La mort prématurée de Manda Mobutu met un point final à l'histoire du "Zaïre" - Burkina ] ] but Mobutu himself was later overthrown (in 1997) by Laurent KabilaPotential successions
*
Egypt : Popular and scholarly opinion holds thatGamal Mubarak is being groomed to succeed his father Hosni to the presidency upon the elder Mubarak's death; this has not yet come to pass. The younger Mubarak is currently Chair of the Policy Planning Committee of the ruling National Democratic Party, giving him substantial power as Egypt is a "de facto"single-party state . Both the Egyptian government and the Mubarak family deny plans of an inherited transfer of power.Notes
ee also
* List of Political Families
External links
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3195084.stm Dynasties of the ex-USSR]
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