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 do. Forms of government Part of the Politics series Politics Portal This box:      Oligarchy (Greek , Oligarkhía) is a form of government where political power effectively rests with a small, elite segment of society (whether distinguished by wealth, family or military prowess). ... Politics is the process by which decisions are made within groups. ...

Gerontocracy's strength is seen as its stability, which can be more appropriate for institutions that teach principles that do not vary over time. In institutions that have to cope with rapid change, the decreased faculties of the aged can potentially be a handicap in providing effective leadership.

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". This article is about a form of government in which the state operates under the control of a Communist Party. ... The Eight Immortals were a group of elderly members of the Communist Party of China who held substantial power during the 1980s and 1990s. ...

Gerontocracy is also common in religious theocratic states such as Iran ,in which leadership is concentrated in the hands of religious elders. Despite the age of the senior religious leaders, however, parliamentary candidates in Iran must be under 75. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... A religious elder (in Greek, πρεσβυτερος [presbyteros]) is valued for his or her wisdom, in part for their age, on the grounds that the older one is then the more one is likely to know. ...

Gerontocracy is also well-established in most western democracies. Parliament members are disproportionately old, and positions of power within the parliament - such as chairmanships of various committees - being usually bestowed upon the more experienced, i.e., older, parliament members.

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. A septuagenarian is a person in the age group of 70 to 79 years old. ... An octogenarian is a person in the age group of 80 to 89 years old. ... A centenarian is a person who has attained the age of 100 years or more. ...

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. A mandatory retirement age is the age at which persons who hold certain jobs or offices are required by statute to step down, or retire. ...

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. It was not age discriminatory.). Bold textralf is gay IOC redirects here. ... 1965 (MCMLXV) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1965 calendar). ... His Holiness Pope Paul VI (Latin: ), (Italian: Paolo VI), born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini (September 26, 1897 – August 6, 1978), reigned as Pope of the Roman Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 1963 to 1978. ... The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ...

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 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, and as of 2005 the church is actively led by Gordon B. Hinckley, a man who remembers the day his father replaced the family horse-wagon with a Ford Model T. The Salt Lake Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the largest attraction in the citys Temple Square. ... Joseph Smith, Jr. ... | Come and take it, slogan of the Texas Revolution 1835 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... The current Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in the LDS Church. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Gordon Bitner Hinckley (b. ... The Ford Model T (colloquially known as the Tin Lizzie and the Flivver) was an automobile produced by Henry Fords Ford Motor Company from 1908 through 1927. ...

Impact of human longevity

The increase in human longevity may change the definitions thereof, as ages formerly typified by senescence and survived to by a small proportion of the population are reached by larger numbers of healthier people. For this reason mandatory retirement ages may be raised or face increasing opposition. When Pope John Paul II was elected, about one tenth of the College of Cardinals was over 80, but today the proportion has surpassed one-third. Longevity is defined as long life or the length of a persons life (life expectancy). ... It has been suggested that Longevity genes be merged into this article or section. ... Coat of Arms of Pope John Paul II. The Letter M is for Mary, the mother of Jesus, to whom he held strong devotion Pope John Paul II (Latin: ), (Italian: Giovanni Paolo II), born   [] (May 18, 1920, Wadowice, Poland – April 2, 2005, Vatican City) reigned as Pope of the Catholic... The Sacred College of Cardinals is the body of all Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church. ...

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. Holy Fire is a 1996 science fiction novel by cyberpunk writer Bruce Sterling. ... Bruce Sterling at the Ars Electronica Festival Michael Bruce Sterling (born April 14, 1954) is an American science fiction author, best known for his novels and his seminal work on the Mirrorshades anthology, which defined the cyberpunk genre. ... World map of life expectancy, 2005 Life expectancy is a statistical measure defined as the expected (mean) survival of human beings based upon a number of criteria such as gender and geographic location. ... Natasha Vita-Mores Primo is an artistic depiction of a hypothetical posthuman of transhumanist speculation. ... Capital has a number of related meanings in economics, finance and accounting. ... Political power (imperium in Latin) is a type of power held by a person or group in a society. ... A separate article is about the punk band called The Adolescents. ... Middle age consists of the ages around, or older than, the middle of the average lifespan of human beings. ... See Adult. ... Much of the recent sociological debate on power revolves around the issue of constraining and/or enabling nature of power. ...

This social projection inverts present-day ageism against seniors, as well as gerontophobia. To invert means: to make something inverted to use an inverter the process of inversion In Freudian psychology, an invert is a homosexual. ... Manifestations Slavery · Racial profiling Hate speech · Hate crime Lynching · Gay bashing Genocide · Holocaust Ethnocide · Ethnic cleansing Pogrom · Race war Religious persecution Movements Discriminatory Aryanism · Neo-Nazism White/Black supremacy Hate groups · Kahanism Anti-discriminatory Abolitionism Womens/Universal suffrage Civil rights · Gay rights Childrens rights · Youth rights Policies Discriminatory... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ...

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. The Squirrel of Time (abbreviated WoT or less commonly, tWoT) is a bestselling fantasy book series written by Robert Jordan. ... For other persons named Robert Jordan, see Robert Jordan (disambiguation). ... Kin has multiple meanings: It can refer to family. ... The Aes Sedai are a society in the fictional universe of Robert Jordans Wheel of Time book series. ... In The Wheel of Time fantasy series by Robert Jordan, the One Power is the force that maintains the continuous motion of the Wheel of Time. ...

In the Frederik Pohl novel Search the Sky, the main character Ross, encounter's a planet with a geritocracy masquerading as a democracy. It uses phrases such as "Old Heads Are Wisest" and gives the population the right to choose who is oldest. Frederik Pohl (born November 26, 1919) is a noted American science fiction writer and editor, with a career spanning over sixty years. ...

See also

• Ageism
• gerontophobia