Nepotism Essay ⋆ Political Science Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

From the Latin nepos, meaning “nephew,” nepotism is the practice of favoritism based on kinship. The term originally referred to the way relatives of the pope, often his illegitimate sons, were appointed, regardless of their merit, to the highest positions in the Vatican hierarchy. Nepotism, described as the undue preferment of relatives to other, better qualified candidates, is usually seen as a negative practice, because it implies that the person getting the job, promotion, or college admittance is usually not otherwise qualified enough to be effective in the position. Nepotism is typically found in political and educational systems, but it is also present in private business. In a democracy, nepotism is often looked at as a form of corruption. It is the public interest and those unfairly denied a position for which they were qualified that typically suffer as a result of nepotism. In any organization, nepotism can cause conflicts in loyalties within an organization, particularly where one relative is placed in a direct supervisory position over another. Laws regarding political nepotism vary from country to country, and also from state to state in the United States.

Nepotism is a common accusation in politics, even when the nominated person does have appropriate qualifications. For example, many cried nepotism when U.S. senator Frank Murkowski was elected governor of Alaska and appointed his daughter, state representative Lisa Murkowski, to fill the remaining two years of his term in the Senate. (Lisa Murkowski won reelection on her own in 2004.) John F. Kennedy was accused of nepotism for his appointment of his brother Robert Kennedy as attorney general in 1961.

Nepotistic practices are known to all ages and societies, and all ideologies and political systems. In fact, they have provided the basic organizing principles of politics for much of human history. Arguably, all aristocratic, dynastic, or ruling hereditary regimes share with nepotism the feature of elevating family members as successors regardless of their fitness for the inherited or bestowed position. Despite the spread of democracy in the twentieth century, in most of the developing world, notably in the Middle East, Africa, and central Asia, nepotism still exerts strong influence. Here family ties are essential for gaining access to power, state resources, and privileges, and they heavily skew the distribution of wealth and status. The Syrian hereditary dictatorship is based upon a family and tribal pyramid, as was Saddam Hussein’s in Iraq. In North Korea and Azerbaijan, the sons of the highest leaders inherited their fathers’ positions. The president of Maldives, Maumoon Abdul Gayyoom, once had thirteen of his brothers, brothers-in-law, and classmates as members of his cabinet.

Controversy

Similar to corruption, nepotism is perceived differently in different countries and cultures. “What would be considered as nepotism or shameless patronage in Britain, might be seen as fair practice or even a moral duty in other countries, including some countries of southern Europe” (Pujas and Rhodes 1999, 690) Although nepotism is seen as running counter to the principles of meritocracy and accountability due to the blurring of borders between the public and the private sphere, some social biologists have suggested that a tendency toward nepotism is a form of natural kin selection. According to another argument, in failed states where the government cannot provide security and justice, the common denominator tends to be that the state structures organize around blood ties, since the highest level of trust is found within families.

Most European and North American countries, as well as international organizations (including the European Commission in the 1990s and the World Bank in the 2000s) have made nepotism a legal offense, through ant nepotism laws, in explicit recognition that personal connections can be used to unfairly discriminate, distort, and corrupt. Also in the business world, some larger companies have instituted antinepotism policies, which prevent relatives from working together in the same department or firm. However, in many smaller, family-owned businesses, nepotism is viewed in more positive terms.

Bibliography:

Bellow, Adam. In Praise of Nepotism: A Natural History. New York: Doubleday, 2003.
Pujas,Véronique, and Martin Rhodes. “A Clash of Cultures? Corruption and the Ethics of Administration in Western Europe.” Parliamentary Affairs 52, no. 4 (1999): 688–703.
Salter, Frank K., ed. Risky Transactions: Trust, Kinship, and Ethnicity. New York: Berghahn Books, 2002.
Turley, Jonathan. “Public Payroll: A Family Affair; Nepotism in Washington Poses a Threat to Institutional Integrity.” Jewish World Review, January 14, 2003.

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