Gerontocracy

A gerontocracy is a form of oligarchical rule in which an entity is ruled by leaders who are significantly older than most of the adult population. Often the political structure is such that political power within the ruling class accumulates with age, so that the oldest hold the most power. Those holding the most power may not be in formal leadership positions, but often dominate those who are.

Gerontocracy in various political systems

Such a form of leadership is common in communist states in which the length of one's service to the party is held to be the main qualification for leadership. In the time of the Eight Immortals of Communist Party of China, it was quipped, "the 80-year-olds are calling meetings of 70-year-olds to decide which 60-year-olds should retire". For instance, Party leader Mao Zedong was 82 when he died, while Deng Xiaoping retained a powerful influence until he was nearly 90.

In the Soviet Union, gerontocracy became increasingly entrenched starting in the 1970s, at least until March 1985, when a dynamic, young, ambitious leadership headed by Mikhail Gorbachev took power. Leonid Brezhnev, its foremost representative, died in 1982 aged 75, but had suffered a heart attack in 1975, after which generalized arteriosclerosis set in, so that he was progressively infirm and had trouble speaking. During his last two years he was essentially a figurehead.

In 1980, the average Politburo member was 70 years old (as opposed to 55 in 1952 and 61 in 1964), and by 1982, Brezhnev's foreign minister Andrei Gromyko, his defence minister Dmitri Ustinov and his prime minister Nikolai Tikhonov were all in their mid-to-late seventies. Yuri Andropov, Brezhnev's 68-year-old successor, was seriously ill with kidney disease when he took over, and after his death fifteen months later, he was succeeded by Konstantin Chernenko, then 72, who lasted thirteen months before his death and replacement with Gorbachev. Cuba has been characterized as a gerontocracy: "Although the population is now mainly black or mulatto and young, its rulers form a mainly white gerontocracy."

Other Communist countries with leaders in their 70s or 80s have included Albania (First Secretary Enver Hoxha was 76 at death), Czechoslovakia (President Gust?v Hus?k was 76 at his resignation), East Germany (General Secretary and head of state Erich Honecker was 77 when forced out), Hungary (General Secretary J?nos K?d?r was 75 when forced out), Laos (President Nouhak Phoumsavanh was 83 at retirement), North Korea (President Kim Il-sung was 82 at death), Romania (General Secretary and President Nicolae Ceau?escu was 70 when executed), Vietnam (President Truong Chinh was 80 at retirement), Yugoslavia (President Josip Broz Tito was 87 at death). On the sub-national level, Georgia's Party head Vasil Mzhavanadze was 70 when forced out, and his Lithuanian counterpart Antanas Snie?kus was 71 at death. Samburu society is said to be a gerontocracy.

In the Indian state of Tamilnadu, the government headed by M. Karunanidhi the state's chief minister who is 86 years old, is another real world example of gerontocracy. In another Indian state, West Bengal, Shri Jyoti Basu, was 86 years old when he stepped down from the office of chief minister of the state. But he continued to remain a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) until a few months before his death in January 2010 and was consulted on all matters related to governance by the Chief Minister and his Cabinet as well as his other party colleagues.

Organizational examples

Outside the political sphere, gerontocracy may be observed in other institutional hierarchies of various kinds. Generally the mark of a gerontocracy is the presence of a substantial number of septuagenarian or octogenarian leaders—those younger than this are too young for the label to be appropriate, while those older than this have generally been too few to dominate the leadership in numbers. The rare centenarian who has retained a position of power is generally by far the oldest in the hierarchy.

Gerontocracy generally occurs as a phase in the development of an entity, rather than being part of it throughout its existence. Opposition to gerontocracy may cause weakening or elimination of this characteristic by instituting things like term limits or mandatory retirement ages.

Judges of the United States courts, for example, serve for life, but a system of incentives to retire at full pay after a given age and disqualification from leadership for those who fail to do so has been instituted. The International Olympic Committee instituted a mandatory retirement age in 1965, and Pope Paul VI removed the right of Roman Catholic Cardinals to vote for a new Pope once they reached the age of 80 (which was to limit the number of Cardinals that would vote for the new Pope, due to the proliferation of Cardinals that was occurring at the time and is continuing to occur.).

On the other hand, gerontocracy may emerge in an institution not initially known for it. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was founded by Joseph Smith, Jr., a 24-year-old man, who in 1835 constituted the first Quorum of the Twelve Apostles with members ranging in age from 23 to 35. Once it was established that succession to the church presidency derived from longest tenure in an office held for life, the hierarchy aged markedly, and with the growth of the church the age at which officials were named to the highest bodies continued to rise. Six church presidents have held office past the age of 90; until his death at age 97 in 2008, the church was actively led by Gordon B. Hinckley.

 

Fiction

The science fiction novel Holy Fire by Bruce Sterling deals with a future society, in which life expectancy has been expanded to more than two centuries by means of medicine and technology (see transhumanism) to the effect that the gerontocrats wield almost all capital and political power. Adolescents and young (and by modern standards middle-aged) adults live as outsiders with virtually no access to wealth or power.

This social projection inverts present-day ageism against seniors, as well as gerontophobia.

In the fantasy series the Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan, The Kin, a group of women that at some point failed to become Aes Sedai, do not hold any value in the strength of someone in the One Power, as opposed to Aes Sedai, and only defer to age.

In the TV version of Logan's Run, the city is under the control of such known as cabal of elderly citizens. The council is made of Elite citizens of the city who was given the privilege to live beyond the age of 30.

In the Frederik Pohl novel Search the Sky, the main character Ross, encounters a planet with a gerontocracy masquerading as a democracy. It uses phrases such as "Old Heads Are Wisest" and gives the population the right to choose who is oldest.

In the opening chapter of the science fiction novel Consider Phlebas by Ian M. Banks the main character, a spy called Bora Horza Gobuchul, is being ritually executed by the 'Gerontocracy of Sorpen' for impersonating one of their ministers. The character is a Changer, able to alter his outward appearance at will, and has greatly changed his body so as to appear old enough to make the deception believable.

In the Takeshi Kovacs series of science-fiction novels by Richard K. Morgan, some worlds, most significantly Earth, are ruled by an incredibly wealthy elite, granted effective immortality by technology which allows the digitisation of the human mind and its transfer between living bodies. Commonly known by the label "Methuselahs" or "Meths", a reference to the biblical figure, they control most of the economic and political activities of the planet. Several Meths play a major role in the first novel, Altered Carbon.

Source: encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com

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