Nepotism is
favouritism granted to
relatives or friends, without regard to their
merit.
[Modern Language Association (MLA):"nepotism." The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005. 10 Aug. 2009. .] The word
nepotism is from the Latin word
nepos (meaning "
nephew" or "
grandchild").
Types of nepotism
Papal
Nepotism gained its name after the church practice in the
Middle Ages, when some
Catholic popes and
bishops, who had taken vows of
chastity, and therefore usually had no children of their own, gave their nephews such positions of preference as were often accorded by fathers to son.
Several popes elevated nephews and other relatives to the
cardinalate. Often, such appointments were a means of continuing a papal "dynasty".
For instance,
Pope Callixtus III, head of the
Borgia family, made two of his nephews Cardinals; one of them, Rodrigo, later used his position as a Cardinal as a stepping stone to the papacy, becoming
Pope Alexander VI. Coincidentally, Alexander elevated Alessandro Farnese, his mistress's brother, to the cardinalate; Farnese would later go on to become
Pope Paul III.
Paul also engaged in nepotism, appointing, for instance, two nephews, aged fourteen and sixteen, as cardinals. The practice was finally ended when
Pope Innocent XII issued the
bull Romanum decet Pontificem, in 1692.
The papal bull prohibited popes in all times from bestowing estates, offices, or revenues on any relative, with the exception that one qualified relative (at most) could be made a Cardinal.
Political
Nepotism is a common accusation in politics when the relative of a powerful figure ascends to similar power seemingly without appropriate qualifications. The
British English expression "
Bob's your uncle" is thought to have originated when
Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, promoted his nephew,
Arthur Balfour, to the esteemed post of
Chief Secretary for Ireland in what was widely seen as an act of nepotism.
Examples
Anna Bligh, who won the 2008 Queensland State election has been accused of nepotism by giving her husband Greg Withers a bureaucratic position.
President
Heydar Aliyev appointed his son
Ilham Aliyev Prime Minister during the last months of his presidency in 2003. Prior to the election the elder Aliyev dropped out and put his son up as presidential candidate instead. Aliyev was elected to the presidency and his father died just two months later, having successfully sealed the transfer of power to his son.
Former PM
Khaleda Zia is accused of favouring her son
Tareq Zia in political arena.
In 2009,
Voreqe Bainimarama appointed
Francis Kean, his brother-in-law, at the head of the naval forces (though Francis Kean had served a jail sentence).
- In 2008 Jean Sarkozy, second son of President Nicolas Sarkozy, stood for election in a canton in the Parisian suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine, in a district of which his father used to be mayor. The original candidate (a loyal member of Sarkozy's UMP Party) stepped aside to allow Jean Sarkozy to run. This resulted in French commentators announcing "behold, the rise of the dauphin".
- In October 2009 Jean Sarkozy is about to become 's director despite lacking any real diploma yet and having no professional experience .
- In September 2009 Pierre Sarkozy, first son of President Nicolas Sarkozy, asked for a financial help (of around 10000€) towards an 80000€ artistic project. Pierre Sarkozy not being an SCPP member, financing was automatically rejected. Following the refusal, he went to the Élysée which lead to an Élysée counsel contacting the SCPP, and SCPP president Marc Guez assuring the issue would soon be favorably resolved. According to president and SCPP member Yves Riesel, however, this will not happen as SCPP's financial helps have been restricted to members only for months.
- Greek Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis entered to the Parliament in 1989 after his election in the 1st District of Thessaloniki as a MP of New Democracy, a party founded by his uncle, Constantine Karamanlis. He has also included Michalis Liapis, his cousin, in two of his cabinets.
- George Papandreou, Leader of the Official Opposition in Hellenic Parliament, was firstly elected MP in 1981 with PASOK, the party led by his father, Andreas, and has been included in numerous cabinets under either his father or Kostas Simitis.
- Dora Bakoyannis, Greek Foreign Minister, served as Minister for Culture under her father, Constantine Mitsotakis, New Democracy Chairman for eight years. Her brother, Kyriakos, is also a MP.
- In the state of Tamilnadu, politician Karunanidhi has promoted many of his family members in various leadership positions in his party DMK; his first son M. K. Azhagiri controls the party in southern areas, his second son M.K. Stalin is nominated for next party president and Chief ministerial candidate, his daughter Kanimozhi is Member of Parliament, and his nephew Murasoli Maran and grand nephew Dayanidhi Maran were central ministers.
- In the state of Punjab, the present Chief Minister Parkash Badal has appointed his son Sukhbir Badal as deputy CM, projecting him as a likely future Chief Minister.
President Maumoon Abdul Gayyoom has had thirteen of his brothers, brothers-in-law, and classmates as members of his cabinet.
Kim Jong-il became
Chairman of the National Defense Commission,
Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army, and
General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea (the ruling party since 1948), succeeding his father
Kim Il-sung, the founder of the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea,
who died in 1994. In turn, Kim Jong-un, his son is touted to succeed him.
- Benazir Bhutto was appointed the leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party without direct election because she was the daughter of former leader Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. Upon Benazir's death her son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was appointed co-chairman without election despite being only eighteen years old at the time and lacking any knowledge of politics or life in Pakistan. The other chairman of the PPP was Benazir's husband Asif Ali Zardari who was accused of widespread corruption during his wife's previous terms in office.
Elena Basescu, the daughter of the current president
Traian Basescu, was elected president of the youth organization in the political party which was ruled by
Traian Basescu before becoming president of Romania.
After winning the Presidential election in
2005 Mahinda Rajapaksa appointed 3 of his brothers to his government:
Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, a former army officer, as the secretary of defense;
Basil Rajapaksa as Senior Adviser to President and
Chamal Rajapaksa as Cabinet Minister of Ports & Aviation and Irrigation & Water Management. He also appointed several close friends and associates as presidential advisers, including
Sajin Vass Gunawardene (CEO of the state owned Mihin Air, though he did not have any qualifications.).
Mahinda Rajapaksa also made his son a cadet officer even though he did not meet certain requirements.
Bashar al-Assad was appointed as
President after his father
Hafez's death, despite being too young for the post under the country's constitution as it then stood.
Prime Minister Patrick Manning appointed his unelected wife Hazel Manning to the Cabinet for two consecutive terms, first as Minister of Education and currently as Minister of Local Government.
After "winning" the first ever democratic election in South Vietnam in 1955,
Ngo Dinh Diem appointed his brother Ngo Dinh Nhu in charge of the private armies and secret police.
Ngô Đình Cẩn, his younger brother, was put in charge of the former Imperial City of Huế.
President
Hugo Chavez and
Cilia Flores, president of the Venezuela National Assembly, are also known for their influences to get family members in the government. Flores managed to place relatives in as many as nine of sixty permanent positions at the National Assembly- three siblings, two nephews, a cousin, the mother of that cousin, her mother-in-law and an aunt.
Remarks
At some point, nepotism at high levels of government might serve to create what are in effect monarchies in nominal republics. In Syria, the case of the al-Assads mentioned above is one example. In
Egypt, the likely similar succession of
Gamal Mubarak to the
Presidency upon
Hosni Mubarak's death is equivalent.
In entertainment
Outside of national politics, accusations of "nepotism" are made in instances of
prima facie favouritism to relatives, such as:
- Peaches Geldof's role as magazine editor in an MTV reality show - produced by a company owned by her father Bob Geldof. In a sketch of The Kevin Bishop Show, which frequently has less-than-flattering fake perfume adverts for celebrities, Peaches Geldof got one - "Nepotism, the smell of Peaches Geldof". Before this, a mock voice said "I'm a fashion model, a TV presenter, and I'm a journalist as well...did I mention my dad's Bob Geldof?"
- One-time Guardian contributor Max Gogarty has also been accused of taking advantage of family contacts to achieve success disproportionate to his ability; his father Paul Gogarty is a frequent travel writer for the newspaper.
Social and economic effects
Nepotism and cronyism can have short- and long-term effects on a society, depending on the extent of the takeup and social acceptability of these practices.
Areas in which, it is believed, nepotism has negative societal effects:
- intergovermental and intragovermental relations (ambassadors, civil-service attached personnel)
See also
