Dynastic Succession Research Articles

Trimming the Tangle of Legend: Heroic Haircuts, Materialising Meals, and the Legitimisation of Dynastic Succession in Norwegian and Polish Foundation Narratives

Trimming the Tangle of Legend: Heroic Haircuts, Materialising Meals, and the Legitimisation of Dynastic Succession in Norwegian and Polish Foundation Narratives

Evidence for dynastic succession among early Celtic elites in Central Europe

The early Iron Age (800 to 450 BCE) in France, Germany and Switzerland, known as the ‘West-Hallstattkreis’, stands out as featuring the earliest evidence for supra-regional organization north of the Alps. Often referred to as ‘early Celtic’, suggesting tentative connections to later cultural phenomena, its societal and population structure remain enigmatic. Here we present genomic and isotope data from 31 individuals from this context in southern Germany, dating between 616 and 200 BCE. We identify multiple biologically related groups spanning three elite burials as far as 100 km apart, supported by trans-regional individual mobility inferred from isotope data. These include a close biological relationship between two of the richest burial mounds of the Hallstatt culture. Bayesian modelling points to an avuncular relationship between the two individuals, which may suggest a practice of matrilineal dynastic succession in early Celtic elites. We show that their ancestry is shared on a broad geographic scale from Iberia throughout Central-Eastern Europe, undergoing a decline after the late Iron Age (450 BCE to ~50 CE).

Relocation of Royal Tombs and Stone Sculptures in 19th-century Chosŏn

<i>Kukchosogoryeŭi</i>, the book of protocols for the late Chosŏn royal court, lists some rituals that have changed since early years of the dynasty. <i>Ch’ŏnjangŭi</i>, the process of relocating tombs is one of them. In late Chosŏn, royal tombs were actively relocated, unlike in early Chosŏn and mostly not in accordance with the dead monarch’s wishes. In the 15<sup>th</sup> century, T’aejo, T’aejong, and Sejong all outlived their queens and were able to prepare their own tombs and the management of the annexed Buddhist temples. In the 16<sup>th</sup> and 17<sup>th</sup> centuries, most relocated tombs were of posthumously honored monarchs, who were the birth parents of reigning monarchs. In contrast, 19<sup>th</sup>-century transfers were directly related to dynastic successions. Tombs that were relocated during the reign of Ch’ŏlchong were those of King Sunjo, Sunjo’s birth mother, and the Crown Prince Hyomyŏng, the son of Sunjo. In even moving some tombs twice, Ch’ŏljong was looking to the precedence of Yŏngjo and Chŏngjo and hoping to beget a son. In the 19<sup>th</sup> century, it was rare for royal tomb sculptures to be newly made and sculptures from original tombs were reused instead. Although some were newly made, they generally do not hold up to the quality of the sculptures of the past and betray the falling standards of art at the royal court in late Chosŏn.

Dynastic dilemma in South Asia: influence, networks and shamefacedness

ABSTRACT This article contributes to the growing literature on political dynasticism in contemporary South Asia and shifts the focus from the much-debated national level dynasties to the usually ignored dynasties operating at subnational and regional levels. Analytically, it investigates the ‘moment’ of succession, conceptualised as the period when new heirs are actively enrolled in a dynastic formation. Such moments of succession can be perilous moments for dynastic formations, potentially disrupting its routine functioning style. And yet, these moments allow a clear identification and opportunity for analysis of the specific dilemma that all political dynasties have to negotiate. This dilemma can be described as follows: how to reconcile (1) the need to project emerging dynastic heirs as extraordinary beings embodying the special qualities of the original dynast, with (2) the equally pressing need to downplay inherited dynastic privilege – conceptualised here using Louis Dumont’s idea of ‘shamefacedness’ – often portrayed as an illegitimate source of power and influence in postcolonial South Asia. A successful succession, as this article argues, relies on the ability to negotiate this dilemma. To demonstrate this negotiation in practice, the article analyses two cases of dynastic succession: Abhishek Banerjee in West Bengal, India and Serniabat Sadiq Abdullah in Barishal, Bangladesh.

Justifiable narratives: The rise and fall of family politicians in South Korea

Like other Asian democracies, family politics is not unknown to South Korea. The triumph of Park Geun–hye, daughter of former authoritarian ruler Park Chung–hee, in the 2012 presidential election was in particular interpreted as a precursor of ‘dynastization’ in Korean politics. Nevertheless, up to the present day, political families in South Korea have been significantly less successful in securing offices through electoral competition than their Asian counterparts. Using extensive evidence from statistical and documentary sources, I argue the following: First, South Korean family politicians are more likely to face unfavorable popular sentiment towards their candidacies in elections than family politicians in other Asian democracies. Second, in addition to inheriting their predecessors' political advantages, they are required to enhance their own electoral appeal by properly justifying that their electoral participation is compatible with popular demands for meritocracy and procedural fairness. This argument highlighting politico–cultural requirements, or what I call justifiable narratives, for dynastic succession is empirically supported by case studies of four South Korean family politicians.

Picturing Political Power: Eighteenth-Century Korean Portraits in San Francisco's Asian Art Museum

Picturing Political Power: Eighteenth-Century Korean Portraits in San Francisco's Asian Art Museum

Revolutionary amnesia and the nature of prerogative power

Abstract What is the nature and source of prerogative power? Where does it come from and how was it created? British constitutional law makes several assumptions in these regards. It assumes that these powers are inherent in or intrinsic to the Crown and it assumes that these powers are common law powers, meaning that they are constituted or conferred by the common law. This article takes issue with these conceptions of the nature of prerogative power. It shows that the idea that prerogative powers are sourced in the common law is derived from the seventeenth century’s theory of the ancient constitution; a theory famously advocated by Sir Edward Coke and embodied in his observation that “the King hath no prerogative but that which the law of the land allows him.” However, as the article shows, this theory of the ancient constitution was not an accepted theory of law in the seventeenth century, but rather an intensely contested political theory. It occupied a battlefield of constitutional ideas along with theories of kingly power sourced in conquest and the divine. Moreover, although these theories disagreed about the source and extent of prerogative power, they all posited a protocorporate Crown wedded to dynastic succession. The article shows that, from the perspective of a corporate Crown, the Glorious Revolution of 1689 resulted in the effective dissolution or dormancy of the kingly corporation embodied in James II, requiring that the Crown and kingly power be remade anew in the United Kingdom’s last “historically first” constitutional event. Through a close reading of the Bill of Rights and the proceedings of the Convention Parliament of 1689, the article evidences the statutory remaking of the Crown and prerogative powers and shows how from 1689 to today prerogative powers should be understood as a grander form of statutorily delegated power.

The Moderating Role of Socioemotional Wealth on Postsuccession Performance in SME Family Firms

This study focuses on the moderating role of socioemotional wealth (SEW) within family-owned small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by examining whether and to what extent a dynastic succession event influences postsuccession performance. Based on data drawn from 344 German family-owned SMEs and relying on a direct multidimensional scale to account for the heterogeneity in owning families’ affective endowment, our key finding is that firms with high SEW after a succession event generate higher postsuccession performance than their counterparts with low SEW. Focusing on individual SEW dimensions, we find that the renewal of family bonds though dynastic succession and the identification of family members with the firm are the key drivers that affect postsuccession performance. In sum, our study identifies SEW – and its components – to be substantial factors determining whether a succession event will improve or undermine a family-owned SME’s financial performance after succession. For practitioners, our study also provides valuable information on whether and how family-owned SMEs can draw on SEW as a strategic tool to ensure the firm’s long-term success.

Politics of Prophecy in Java: A Mythological Narrative on Political Succession of Javanese Dynasties in Babad Tanah Jawi

This article is to figure out how Javanese power succession has archetypal structures and relational systems in Babad Tanah Jawi, representing that the past is prophetic prologomena for the future. Using Lévi-Strauss’s structural anthropology of myth as a methodological approach, this study attempts to analyze the relational systems of successive power of Javanese characters (rulers) from pre-Majapahit to early Mataram in Babad Tanah Jawi and to interpret symbols of the prophetic divine during the periods of different Javanese reigns. This study has found that Javanese dynastic succession has been characterized by archetypal structures, in which the Javanese rulers commonly passed through identical phases of life-journeys, ranging from getting divination from fortune-teller (prophecy), getting out of the origins (exodus), to getting political recognition to be the next ruler (legitimacy). This system argues that the mythological prophecy in Babad Tanah Jawi is political because it prevails the logic of the Javanese worldview (weltanschauung) and the precondition of mystical and political legitimacy for Javanese rulers. The narratives of prophetic symbols, in which the different Javanese rulers had been involved in similar forms and structures, also imply the political dimension of prophecy representing the power of their reigns.

О ПОДСУДНОСТИ ЧИНГИЗИДОВ ТРАДИЦИОННОМУ СУДУ БИЕВ

The implementation of new research projects in the field of synthesis works on national history has actualized the issue of revising many outdated views, interpretations and assessments. The presented work examines the validity of the assertion widespread in scientific works that representatives of the Chingizid estate were outside the jurisdiction of the Biy Courts in traditional Kazakh society and could only be responsible to a special, aristocratic judicial body. The researchhas shown that the thesis was based on the some sources reflecting the realities of the period when the traditional Steppe Law underwent a significant transformation due to the political, economic, social and cultural changes in Kazakh society caused by impact of Russian Empire. In addition to criticizing the source, the author also examines various episodes in the history of the Kazakhs in XVIII century. They testify that famous Kazakh khans and sultans acted on several occasions as one of the parties in the Biy Court, including disputes for dynastic succession and domestic offenses. These data suggest a complete revision of the outdated thesis that distorts the idea of one of the basic institutions in traditional society, which used to solve effectively all contradictions in traditional Kazakh society.

Are family female directors catalysts of innovation in family small and medium enterprises?

AbstractResearch SummaryWhile family small and medium enterprises (SMEs) increasingly involve women in their boards, the role of female directors as catalysts of innovation is yet to be fully understood. Drawing on upper echelons theory, we examine directors' gender in conjunction with family affiliation to investigate the influence of family female directors on family SMEs' innovation. Moreover, by analyzing the contingent role of socioemotional wealth preferences, we open the black box of noneconomic aspects shaping the cognition and behavior of boards. Our analysis of a unique survey‐based sample of 287 Belgian family SMEs reveals that family female directors do exert a positive influence on R&D intensity. However, according to the mixed gamble logic, this influence is filtered by the positive and negative moderation of their socioemotional wealth preferences.Managerial SummaryWe examine the role that women who are members of the family owning a business play in the decision making of SMEs. Specifically, we investigate the influence that the involvement of family female directors in the board of family SMEs exerts on innovation decisions. To empirically address this line of inquiry, we conducted a survey on 287 Belgian family SMEs. Our analysis shows that the involvement of family female directors in the board fosters family SME's innovation investments. Yet, such an influence is weakened by the intention of the family to retain control over the business but is enhanced by the identification of family members with the firm and by the desire to renew family bonds through dynastic succession. Therefore, our study cautions family SMEs' owners and managers to pay attention to these important dimensions of diversity when appointing directors to their board.

The Politics of Power: The Rise and Fall of the Deinomenid Dynasty in Fifth-century Sicily

In the Greek world, power was based on charismatic aretē, excellence. For that reason, rulers had to prove their charismatic qualities in order to rule. However, maintaining charismatic rule over generations was difficult, especially as the successor had to show himself to be more charismatic than his predecessor. In this chapter, we will consider the rule of the Deinomenids in late sixth- and early fifth-century Sicily. We will see how power was established through the charismatic activities of the older brother (Gelon), and how the younger brother (Hieron) then had to assert his position in relation to his elder brother. Drawing on Graeber and Sahlins’ model of the metaperosn, this chapter will argue that in the dynastic succession between the Deinomenids, Hieron struggled to maintain charismatic legitimacy, which meant that power was lost, and the dynasty was overthrown.

The Seleucid Era and Early Hellenistic Imperialism

This article presents a new analysis of the origins of the Seleucid Era, and its relationship to early Seleucid imperialism. Contrary to recent assessments of the Era as a radical and early invention of Seleucus I, designed to promote imperial homogenisation, we argue that it emerged gradually out of diadochic competition and pre-existing temporal systems, as Seleucus and the other successors attempted to assert control over the territories conquered by Alexander. Moreover, even when the year count established by Seleucus became an Era, most likely to facilitate dynastic succession, it took two forms, adapted to the different calendrical systems of the empire. This undermines the idea that the early Seleucid rulers sought to repress local difference.

An unpromising dynastic succession in the third century: Hostilian and Volusian as principes iuventutis on Roman coinage (AD 251)

An unpromising dynastic succession in the third century: Hostilian and Volusian as principes iuventutis on Roman coinage (AD 251)

Princely Funerals in Europe 1400–1700: Commemoration, Diplomacy and Political Propaganda edited by Monique Chatenet, Murielle Gaude-Ferragu, and Gérard Sabatier

<i>Princely Funerals in Europe 1400–1700: Commemoration, Diplomacy and Political Propaganda</i> edited by Monique Chatenet, Murielle Gaude-Ferragu, and Gérard Sabatier

Dynastic rule in Syria and North Korea: Nepotism, succession, and sibling rivalry

Dynastic rule in republics is a global trend. Using a qualitative life-story-and-family-history method to compare two republican dynasties – the Assads of Syria and Kims of North Korea – this article examines how ruthless kin groups establish themselves in power, practice nepotism and corrupt republican institutions of government with dynastic succession. Focusing on sibling rivalry, a potentially destructive threat to dynasties, it contributes to an emerging political science literature on republican political families by exploring five factors that shape sibling conflict and cooperation.

Al-Ashraf Īnāl (1453–1461) and al-Zāhir Khushqadam (1461–1467): the patterns of Mamluk political elite formation

The study explores the political struggle and the issue of succession in theMamlukSultanate, especially under the Circassian Sultans al-Ashraf Īnāl (1453–1461), al-Muʾayyad Aḥmad (25.02.1461–28.06.1461) and al-Ẓāhir Khushqadam (1461–1467) and elucidates intricacies behind their policy. In the Mamluk Sultanate the transfer of power, especially in the Circassian period (1382–1517), was not determined by the principle of dynastic succession. It is well known that the Circassian sultans did not create a dynasty in every sense of the word. Most of them tried to hand the power over to their sons, but the rule of such heirs tended to be nominal and short-lived. Those Circassian sultans who did manage to remain in power generally were not lineal descendants of their predecessors. A clearly visible trend in the Circassian succession was that an influential and ambitious amir had a good chance of becoming sultan one day.

Covid‐19 and the Future of Family Business Research

Abstract The world is witnessing dramatic changes brought about by Covid-19 and its aftermath, with significant implications for the management of organizations, and hence management studies We argue that the pandemic and its social and economic reverberations are triggering particularly salient challenges for family businesses (FBs) ? the most ubiquitous form of business organization in any world economy ? that call into question some fundamental assumptions at the core of FB research

Rebellious Son

This article concerns early representations in Arabic-Islamic sources of Ḥijāzī opposition to the dynastic succession initiated by Muʿāwiya b. Abī Sufyān shortly before his death in 41/661. The study emphasizes the importance of Qurʾānic exegesis for understanding the origin of the Ḥijāzī-Umayyad debate over rightful caliphal succession. It also demonstrates that examining how this episode is depicted in various literary genres offers a wider perspective on the construction of historical narratives in terms of provenance, protagonists, and objectives. The analysis of tafsīr interpretations of Q 46:17, which serve as the article’s underpinning, reveals that the Umayyad court promoted the view that ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Abī Bakr was the rebellious son mentioned in this verse. Depictions of this dispute in the ḥadīth, ansāb, and adab genres clearly connect Marwān b. alḤakam with this interpretation after ʿAbd al-Raḥmān questioned Muʿāwiya’s appointment of his son Yazīd as his successor. The portrayals of the Ḥijāzī-Umayyad debate in taʾrīkh accounts represent a different perspective, one that shows a transition from a tribal and provincial setting to a broader caliphal political framework. The gradual shift from a reliance on Medinan transmitters to a focus on Iraqi authorities testifies to this orientation, as does the appearance of new leading protagonists. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān’s central role as a leader of the Ḥijāzī opposition to the Umayyads in the tafsīr, ḥadīth, and adab literature becomes secondary and overshadowed by other Ḥijāzī figures, particularly ʿAbd Allāh b. al-Zubayr.

The genesis of dynastic legitimacy in absolutist Siam

ABSTRACT Dynastic succession of kingship is commonly considered a defining characteristic of monarchy. Accordingly, descent though the bloodline is also seen as an essential prerequisite to legitimate claims to the throne. There are, however, no indications that this was the view in early-modern Siam, known since 1939 as Thailand. Rather than royal blood, merit acquired through virtue over many lifetimes according to the Buddhist teachings was understood as legitimizing kingly authority. As merit is not passed on through the bloodline, kingship remained always contestable and both contested successions as well as palace coups were not uncommon. This changed from the mid-nineteenth to the early 20th century, when for the first time in Siamese history succession rules were devised and codified leading to the Palace Law of Succession of 1924. These modern changes to the traditional practice of royal succession in the Kingdom of Siam, can be understood in part as an adoption of foreign practices, in order to appear ‘civilised’ according to European royal norms, against the backdrop of colonial expansion in Southeast Asia. Simultaneously, they can also be seen as a continuation of the long-standing attempts of ruling monarchs to express and extend their authority by determining their own successor.