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A 'family dictatorship', in political science terms a 'personalistic regime', is a form of dictatorship that operates much like an absolute monarchy, yet occurs in a nominally republican state. That is to say, the head of state is a president or prime minister and not a king or emperor.
When 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.
What makes a family dictatorship unique is that this hereditary order of succession is not formally enshrined in law, as it is in a monarchy.

Contents

Successful transitions of power

Indirect successions

Unsuccessful transitions of power

Notes

See also

External links

Successful transitions of power

Dates in parentheses denote the period of rule.

★ England: Oliver Cromwell (1653-1658) succeeded by his son Richard Cromwell (1658-1659)

★ Paraguay: José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia (1814-1840), succeeded by his nephew Carlos Antonio López (1841-1862), succeeded by ''his'' son, Francisco Solano López (1862-1869)

★ Costa Rica: Tomás Guardia Gutiérrez (1870-1876, ''de facto'' 1876-1877, and 1877-1882), succeeded by his brother-in-law Próspero Fernández Oreamuno (1882-1885), succeeded by ''his'' posthumous son-in-law Bernardo Soto Alfaro (1885-1890)

★ El Salvador: Carlos Meléndez (1915-1918), succeeded by his brother Jorge Meléndez (1919-1923), succeeded by ''his'' brother-in-law Alfonso Quiñónez Molina (1923-1927)

★ Nicaragua: Anastasio Somoza García (1937-1947, 1950-1956) succeeded by his son Luis Somoza Debayle (1956-1963). There was also a third Somoza president, Anastasio Somoza Debayle (1967-1972, 1974-1979), though he did not directly succeed the other two.

★ North Korea: Kim Il Sung (1948-1994) succeeded by his son Kim Jong-il (1994- ). Kim Jong-il didn't take office until 1997, when his father was given the position of Eternal President.

★ Haiti: François Duvalier (1957-1971) succeeded by his son Jean-Claude Duvalier (1971-1986)

★ Equatorial Guinea: Francisco Macías Nguema (1968-1979), succeeded after a ''coup d'état'' by his nephew Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo (1979- )

★ Syria: Hafez al-Assad (1971-2000) succeeded by his son Bashar al-Assad (2000- ). This was not intended at the time, as Bashar's elder brother died six years prior to his succession.

★ Djibouti: Hassan Gouled Aptidon (1977-1999) succeeded by his nephew Ismail Omar Guelleh (1999- )

★ Azerbaijan: Heydar Aliyev (1993-2003) succeeded by his son Ilham Aliyev (2003- )

★ Congo-Kinshasa: Laurent Kabila (1997-2001), succeeded by his son Joseph Kabila (2001-)

★ Togo: Faure Gnassingbé succeeded his father Gnassingbé Eyadéma as President on February 5, 2005. Under international pressure, Faure had to resign on February 25, 2005, but he won an election in April and was sworn in again in May.

Indirect successions

★ Republic of China (from 1949 on Taiwan): Chiang Kai-shek (1928-1975) indirectly succeeded by his son Chiang Ching-kuo (1978-1988)

★ Republic of Singapore: Lee Kuan Yew (1965-1990) indirectly succeeded as Prime Minister of Singapore by his son Lee Hsien Loong (2004-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 son Ramfis 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 son Nicu Ceauşescu.^[1]

★ Zaire: Mobutu Sese Seko's heir apparent was his son Nyiwa, who held several cabinet posts and was being groomed to succeed his father;^[2] however, this succession never came to fruition, as not only was Nyiwa killed by AIDS in 1994,^[3] but Mobutu himself was later overthrown (in 1997) by Laurent Kabila

Notes

1. Vladimir Tismăneanu, ''Stalinism pentru eternitate'', Polirom, Iaşi, 2005 ISBN 973-681-899-3 p.295
2. http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+zr0146)
3. http://www.lefaso.net/article.php3?id_article=5300

See also

★ List of Political Families

External links

★ Dynasties of the ex-USSR