Political Dynasties
It is impossible not to feel pity for Bilawal Bhutto. So soon after the cowardly cruel assassination of his mother to become putative leader of the Pakistan opposition while still a teenager and undergraduate in the circumstances that prevail in that part of the sub continent and given the history of the treatment of the Bhutto family is daunting to say the least.
Some elements in the West seem keen to decry the dynastic nature of politics in the sub continent and Asia generally.. India with the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty’s domination is also cited as if it were some tribal archaic practice.
The Lee family dominate in Singapore too and their effect in the island state has been benign.
True the North Korean example of leaders beloved by official decree is not so compellingly successful (to say the least!!!) but here there has never been anything remotely approaching democratic endorsement. A look at the experience in the West also demonstrates we should hold back from giving lectures.
In the US there has been a Bush, Clinton, or Dole on the ticket for more Presidential elections than is healthy. Tony Benn renounced his peerage honourably but yet the (Wedgwood Benn) dynasty lives on and I see that David Prescott hopes to carry on the croquet playing traditions in Hull East.
This in short is not an uniquely eastern phenomenon and in countries from Argentina to the Philippines and from France and the UK to the US the appeal of the familiar means that dynasties have a hold on the political system - also, of course, the passing on of political vision and skills whether by nature or nurture is not to be discounted.
