PAKISTAN’S politics is still dominated by dynasties and family networks that manage to retain their grip over the country’s top political offices and a significant number of seats in parliament. Many lawmakers come from political dynasties and have inherited seats from their parent, spouse or other familial connections. Hereditary politics continues to hold sway, with power distributed among relatives by those who secure high office. The mould of dynastic politics was broken by the rise of PTI, but while its leader was not a dynast, the party included scions of influential political families.

Pakistan is no exception to a phenomenon witnessed across the world — of political families and dynasties dominating the political landscape. What are called political ‘nepo-babies’ are prominent almost everywhere. A political nepo-baby is generally defined as a beneficiary of nepotism — the offspring of someone who achieved high political office and ascends to power by virtue of that. The phenomenon also includes spouses or siblings who succeed in politics due to family connections.

Many countries in Southeast Asia are governed by nepo-babies. Paetongtarn Shinawatra in Thailand, Bongbong Marcos in the Philippines, Hun Manet in Cambodia and Kim Jong Un in North Korea are all children of former rulers who now run their countries. Similarly, Indonesia’s vice president Gibran Rakabuming Raka is the son of former president Joko Widodo. Singapore was ruled for two decades by Lee Hsien Loong, son of Lee Kuan Yew, the country’s founder and first prime minister. In South Asia, the recently ousted prime minister of Bangladesh, Hasina Wajid owed her political ascent to her father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. In........

© Dawn