succession without lines

[marycatelli]

Philosophically contemplating a story and what it says about the leaders of a totalitarian society, and about such leaders in general. . . .

Totalitarian societies in general are kinda brittle.  And part of that seems to be the difficulties of getting the sorts of leaders they had early after they have been in place some time.  Growing up in a totalitarian society has its effects on your personality, and even if it didn't, there's the little matter that the skills need to rise and prosper in such a society, so as to be in a position to take supreme power, are not such as to make you an effective dictator.  Keeping your head down, toeing the party line, saying nothing so it could not be used against you -- once those are your habits, they will stay your habits.  Supreme power doesn't include the ability to throw them out the window.

North Korea seems to be keeping the ball rolling -- but by reinstating a monarchy.  Hereditary monarchies do have the problem that you never know what sort of heir you can produce, even if you choose among the monarch's children, but it does let you raise the child in the expectation of power.  Though some will suffer from the helpless period before the monarch dies, it is imaginable that you can pull that off.

Comments

[marycatelli]

Oh yes. And companies -- when the founding CEO dies or retires, the entire structure shudders. Sometimes it falls.

There are no rules that will ensure an orderly succession. But totalitarians seem the least able to do it.

[nagasvoice.livejournal.com]

Heard an NPR report interviewing a Christian charity guy who just visited North Korea, and how bad it is since they've had bad flooding there. He said he didn't care what the politics were or why the US is threatening not to send any more food aid there. He said children were lined up in rows on the floor, starving to death, and that was all he cared about, getting help for those children.
Now that's what I call a real Christian.

[marycatelli]

Unless he demanded that we send in an army to get the food to those children, not in my book.

It is not an incredibly virtuous act to call for food that will prop up a dictator and leave the children starving.

[nagasvoice.livejournal.com]

Very true, especially since there's been repeated issues with past campaigns there, having food getting diverted to somebody's profit instead of getting to those who need it. Not just fool me twice, either. Enough times of that happening, then we have to turn scarce charity resources to places where we can actually help. Then you're left wondering what the people there, as they were under Libya's Qaddafi, will have to do to change things. Syria, for example, is still in a terribly unstable state, that can't possibly last.
Besides humanitarian concerns, these events impact what readers think about--or DON'T want to have to think about!
Such political instabilities that underpin a lot of heroid fantasy scenarios--the hidden heir of the previous kingship, for instance, is looking to get rid of an Assad or a Kim Il Jong? Not so easy, even in medieval tech terms.

[marycatelli]

Not just there, always. . . .

And the long-lost heir is where a lot of facts get trampled over by the need to amuse the reader.

[jordan179.livejournal.com]

Hereditary monarchies also can establish a tradition which legitimizes the monarch through his rightful succession, which allows the monarch to rule in a more relaxed fashion than a dictator whose rule is legitimized by nothing much more than "I can kill you if you dissent." Note that this does not happen in all monarchies, and also that monarchies in general need to be more politically-paranoid than democracies, because they can't be sure that the leader is at all popular.

[marycatelli]

How true. Anything that glamorizes the leader helps him rule without knocking heads together.

[nagasvoice.livejournal.com]

Plus, people have time to get used to the next generation, to like them (or not) and adjust to what they expect from the entire style of the family in the past.

[marycatelli]

Oh, yes -- at least some warning.

Then, some people have shown surprising traits on being let off the leash.