CSS 2009 Solved Current Affairs Past Papers | Merits and Demerits of Dynastic Politics
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Question breakdown
This question asks for an analysis of the merits and demerits of dynastic politics in South Asia and a thoughtful analysis on this political arrangement. It should include a balanced commentary reflecting on the broader impact of dynastic politics on democratic governance and societal equality.
Outline
1-Introduction
2-A Norm of Dynastic Politics in South Asia
3-Merits
- ✓ Stable Government with consistent policies
- ✓ Well-established political alliances and networks
- ✓ Trained and visionary leadership
- ✓ Public loyalty and strong voter base
4-Demerits
- ✓ Corruption of power, Concentrated families
- ✓ Stagnation in Political evolution
- ✓ Prevalence of Nepotism and lack of merit
- ✓ Limited political diversity
7-Critical Analysis
8-Conclusion
Introduction
Political domination in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka is by the political families that have become a part of the dominant party systems and publicly impact political propositions and social moods. Since many political parties are run by inherited dynasties, the status quo is almost impossible to change due to the leadership’s adherence to the political doctrine of their dynastic predecessors. The rigidity of power favors a certain few as it demoralizes young politicians and erodes political plurality among political parties. Political officeholders also turn themselves into entrepreneurs, making this structure produce corrupt and inefficient leaders. This system also retreats political pluralism, deprives the dynamics of the political process and empowers innovation to deliver new leaders with fresh and effective ideas. Examples from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka highlight some of these issues, demonstrating how intense family networks can affect national development and democracy.
A Norm of Dynastic Politics in South Asia
Dynastic politics has emerged as strongly entrenched in South Asia mainly because of political authority routinely inherited in some families. Political domination in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka is by the political families that have become a part of the dominant party systems and publicly impact political propositions as well as social moods. This has made dynastic politics the new, or the new normal, rather than the exception because the chances of future politics hinge more on family ties rather than merit ascendency. This political pattern is in harmony with the socio-cultural reality of the region, where relations and succession are critical in constituting the individual and community identity. The public always follows familiar and sentimental links to political dynasties, thinking of these as figures of continuity and legacy. A concrete example is the three prime ministers of India during the past four decades belonged to the Nehru–Gandhi family – Jawaharlal Nehru himself being the first PM, then Indira Gandhi followed by Rajiv Gandhi, and today members of the same family, Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul are actively participating in politics life as leaders of the Congress Party. Dynastic politics make the political view corrupt and inept. The premiers always put self-interest or self-power above the benefit of the public. Research done by Transparency International shows that South Asia has remained a region with a high corruption Index, highlighting Bangladesh and Pakistan. Likewise, in Pakistan, the Sharif family has been associated with power for over thirty years and has often been accused of corruption and embezzlement of state funds. Nawaz Sharif, a three-time Prime Minister of Pakistan, along with his family, was involved in the Panama Papers leak case for assets & offshore company ownership, the gigantic problem of dynastic political leaders looting the nation’s wealth. Moreover, dynastic politics also impedes political development and differentiation in South Asia. Since many political parties are run by inherited dynasties, the status quo is almost impossible to change due to the leadership’s adherence to the political doctrine of their dynastic predecessors. The rigidity of power favours a certain few as it demoralizes young politicians and erodes political plurality among political parties. Political officeholders also turn themselves into entrepreneurs, making this structure produce corrupt and inefficient leaders. In addition, patronage and nepotism in hiring overshadow meritocracy; thus, stiffening policy development as well as succession has been elitist, separating politicians from the masses.
Merits
- ✓ Stable Government with consistent policies:
Continuity and stability in dynastic politics relate to the endurance of political families, the extent to which political families are able to sustain coherent leadership, policy and management concentration and remain as the process for a long time, thus establishing and creating trust in the society. As is known, political instability is characteristic of the present South Asian states. People are comfortable with families with a rich background in the country’s politics and are in charge, and hence understand the social-political culture of the region. It is appreciated explicitly in sensitive countries such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, which are highly susceptible to leadership change that causes economic slowdown, change of policies, and social unrest. A key example of this stability is in Bangladesh; the political landscape has long been dominated by the rivalry between two political dynasties: two political parties that are dominated by two powerful families, the family of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman led by Sheikh Hasina and the family of former President Ziaur Rahman led by his wife, Khaleda Zia. As the Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina has maintained stability in Bangladesh for over a decade, and her contributions have led the country to substantially enhance women’s rights, education rates, and GDP. These have been great attributes of her leadership tenure since it has enabled her to implement huge projects like the Padma Bridge, which is thought to enhance economic growth activities since it will link different parts of the country. While her leadership has been criticised for limiting media and opposition parties, her family background and political structures gave her the basic power and support.
- ✓ Well-established political alliances and networks:
Efficient networks of politics are characteristic features of dynastic politics in South Asia since the political families can rely on powerful relationships and trustful supporters, party members and influential persons across the regions and spheres. These networks of influence form cocoons that endorse power dynasties to remain in power despite challenges. For generations, political families have developed relations with the leaders of respective regions, populations, the military, and business circles, guaranteeing power stability and the people’s support. This means dynastic politicians have a more thoroughly connected network than functionaries, who cannot extend their time to cover such webs, hence possessing low trust within the system. One of the best examples of such influence can be discussed with reference to Pakistan, where the Bhutto-Zardari family enjoys the influence patch inherited from the founder of the Pakistan People’s Parties, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. While in office, Bhutto developed a faction with socialist personalities, trade unions, civil libertarians and political activists, thus developing support beyond professionalism. Continuing this tradition, when his daughter Benazir Bhutto led the PPP, no attempt was made to sever the PPP connections from this network; instead, grassroots support was mobilized throughout Pakistan. Following her death, she left these networks to her son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, though they remain supportive of the Bhutto brand, especially in Sindh. This secure base enables Bilawal to fund resources, plan meetings and get press coverage more proficiently than any neophyte, which keeps the PPP as one of the leading parties in Pakistan irrespective of several turnovers and difficulties that Pakistan’s political arena has been through over the years.
- ✓ Trained and visionary leadership:
Many South Asian leaders are from political backgrounds, which gives them the opportunity to experience power, governance, and negotiation from a tender age. This offers them a good background in managing cumbersome political issues and makes the nature of their political outlook sounder and stronger. Personal characteristics, such as political experience and knowledge of the region, allow them to cope with the crisis more effectively. In addition, dynastic politicians are frequently groomed to become leaders, so they view politics not as a career but as a continuation of a family business. Like in Sri Lanka, the political leadership and visionary amongst the Rajapaksa family turned a new chapter in the governance structure of the country; Mahinda Rajapaksa worked on social security matters and enhanced the relationship with the military top executives to end the civil war in 2009 which incorporated him as a potent force in the Sri Lankan political system. Similarly, the incumbent Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League government has done a good job in terms of healthcare, education, and infrastructural development, transforming it into a middle-income country. All of such endeavours presuppose a leader with a talent for managing everyday affairs while being loyal to a long-term vision that may take years or decades to come through.
- ✓ Public loyalty and strong voter base:
A passionate and committed voter base is one of the cornerstones of dynastic politics in South Asia because dynastic leadership automatically brings with it a voter base that is amenable to mobilization for electoral support for the leadership during lean political periods as well as for key policy initiatives. Far from traditional political allegiance, the devotion of the public toward political dynasties can be traced to historical achievement, cultural worship, and sacrifice or loss, which were undertaken by these political families. Such loyalty helps dynastic politicians to survive storms, rehabilitate after failures, or return to power after miserable mistreatment that people often express because the support is sincere and based on the above-explained historical and traditional factors. Usually, this loyalty turns into the political resource through which dynastic leaders persist and implement measures that are otherwise impossible to facilitate. Very often, a high level of loyalty leads to a political culture that does not allow a critical examination of a leader and his policies. This means that governance can be poor or corrupted, but there is no compromise on support. Such a relationship may result in leaders acting in self or family self-interest while fully aware that the loyalists will never hold them accountable. For instance, Pakistan’s PPP has been accused of corruption several times. However, the Bhutto Zardari family still has many supporters, like people in rural Sindh, who vote for this family as their own. Likewise, in India, there is also the ‘Nehru-Gandhi family’ syndrome, because of which Congressmen are afraid to present constructive opinion as that is against the spirit of unity, and the members always stick to their family and hence do not allow the party the flexibility for change that it requires.
Demerits
- ✓ Corruption of power Concentrated families:
Owing to the concentration of power in influential families effectively undermines accountability and increases opacity within political institutions. For instance, two rival political families in Pakistan, the Bhutto-Zardari and Sharif, have been accused of corruption and financially maladjusted behaviour. Nawaz Sharif has been charged and convicted of multiple corruption references and disqualification from public office, whereas, in the same year, Asif Ali Zardari was also a fugitive under the charges of a high-profile corruption case. Pakistan was ranked 28 out of 100 among 180 countries in the corruption index determined by the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index 2023. Although the feuds may not necessarily be corrupt, when leaders value the protection of family business and family rule, public funds may be embezzled, and policies may create undue benefits for the favoured families. Dynastic politics allow the creation of a closed society where corruption is often institutionalized, and the ruling families will maintain their dominance through sheer political power. Still, they will also protect the oligarchic clans from prosecution since they are similar people. This practice subverts democracy, feeds the chasm of inequity, and stifles the chance of excellence-determining leadership, compromising governance and public responsibility.
- ✓ Stagnation in Political evolution:
The power passes from one generation to the other, and then the society becomes immune to change and innovation when it comes to ideas and policies in the contest. This leads to a system where the primary goals of parties are retaining family politics rather than striving to meet the new needs of society. Also, there is a lack of evolution of political actors whereby fresh, talented people and radical voices within the parties often get marginalized. And so, the same people and their relatives remain the architects of the political decisions of a country even if they do not possess vision or sufficient professional skills to meet the challenges of the modern world. This system deprives the government of a new set of leaders with new ideas that must be implemented in the fields of education, health care and technology. They least involve themselves in political activities because they realize that despite their capability, they can never reach high in the system, which mainly presents power by royal descent. Thus, political decay continues, and nations are unable to change or evolve in ways to meet global or domestic changes, hence offering a death blow to democratization and socio-economic growth.
- ✓ Prevalence of Nepotism and lack of merit:
There is a lot of nepotism, especially in South Asia, where meritocracy is hard to hit. Originally, the hierarchy of a system depended on the family relationship as well as the leadership positions and power and not on the merit of capability or qualification. This can result in an incompetent set of people being appointed to governance structures or people not possessing skills required in modern complex organizations. A vivid example of this type can be derived from India, where many state and central political parties include relatives of the ruling persons regardless of their fitness for the position. For instance, the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh has been accused of employing family members in important positions rather than deserving candidates, which has made aspiring leaders very angry. In this environment, merit becomes non-existent regarding leadership qualities and decreases political institutions’ efficiency. The lack of sufficient attention in South Asian countries to critical issues such as economic reform, infrastructure development, and poverty reduction is due to the shortcomings that result from favouring politically favoured, competent individuals. This culture of favouritism breeds disappointment in the electorate since their input and their desire for the country come second to the wedding of political dynasties, which in turn has a negative impact on democratic volition and confidence in leadership.
- ✓ Limited political diversity:
Dynastic politics has made South Asian politics path-dependent, in which many policies are reproduced without much modification depending on emergent societal needs. The exclusion of minorities and other oppressed groups implies that many policy interventions may not address the needs of the entire population. In Pakistan, for example, the two dynasties of Bhutto Zardari and Sharif have been accused of monopolizing power to the detriment of new fresh faces capable of governing this nation in a more progressive manner that is more accommodating to minority groups. This means that policies are formulated in the best interest of families or for the survival of a political party for the welfare of the public. This has affected the political elite so that there is no fresh political elite, and the electorate has very few choices besides choosing one family over another. This denies democratization and the creation of new political generations that could transform the system to meet current problems such as climate change and technological growth, social justice, etc. Dynastic politics frowned on political diversity, making the political evolution slow and less responsive to emerging national needs.
Critical Analysis
Analyzing the dynastic politics in South Asia brings a two-sided picture. While maintaining the organizational status quo and using experienced senior management for support may work in the short run, it harms the organization in the long run. The control which political families exercise distorts the principles of democracy. Corruption and favouritism are causes of inefficiency; fresh and competent personnel are demoted or not given an opportunity to grow. However, the system is tolerated because everyone has cultural and social inclinations. The examples of Pakistan and India reveal how family-oriented politics pose a problem to sustainable change. Critics have suggested that these families know about governance up to a certain level; however, what is evident without merit is that the region may become stagnant. For the growth of democracy, political systems have to change by accepting diversity and responsibility, not being relegated to dynastic rule.
Conclusion
Despite the advantages of dynastic politics, such as continuity, stability and experienced leadership, it has damaging impacts on both the quality of democratic growth and good governance. This leads to corruption, nepotism, and lack of meritocracy, hence the deterioration of political institutions and public distrust of government. This system also retreats political pluralism, deprives the dynamics of the political process and empowers innovation to deliver new leaders with fresh and effective ideas. Examples from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka highlight some of these issues, demonstrating how intense family networks can affect national development and democracy. Hence, the lessons from the notion that politics is for supporting the public and sustaining established networks oversimplify political dynamics and are counter-productive in the long run because political stagnation and exclusion have severe drawbacks that demand inclusion, accountability and merit rather than ethnicity to represent the people. It is important for the future stability and prosperous growth of South Asia to continue to rewrite the books and build democracy in an attempt to strike a balance between tradition and democracy.
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