Word: bhutto
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Aquino is the widow of Benigno Aquino Jr., Ferdinand Marcos' most bitter rival, who was assassinated in August 1983; Chamorro is the widow of Pedro Joaquin Chamorro, the newspaper publisher whose murder in 1978 led to the downfall of the brutal Anastasio Somoza regime. During her 1988 election campaign, Bhutto never ceased alluding to the legacy of her father Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who was executed in 1979 by the military government she was then fighting to succeed. She titled her autobiography Daughter of Destiny. Ousted in a constitutional coup in August, Bhutto may once again raise the rhetoric of martyrdom...
Unlike Britain's Margaret Thatcher or Israel's Golda Meir, Aquino, Bhutto and Chamorro claimed power not through proven political skills but on the strength and symbolism of their family ties. For much of the Third World, the idea of the nation-state has not evolved too far from the idea of kingdoms; rulers are still heads of extended tribes or vast families, rather than chief executives of the machinery of government. Politics very often pits clan against clan, all the way from Machiavellian patriarchs to the wives and daughters, whose chief duty is still procreation and the maintenance...
...similar disaffection with Bhutto muted criticism of her ouster. Educated at Harvard and Oxford, Bhutto nevertheless seemed to govern Pakistan as she would have a feudal kingdom. Her government appeared to operate largely by petition; she bartered Cabinet seats for increased support in Parliament, and she was unwilling to allow the army, which she distrusted, to interfere in the violent politics of her power base in the province of Sind. While a cordon sanitaire of friends and relatives kept her insulated from critics, she made sure her public appearances received immense media coverage. Like Aquino's, Bhutto's reputation...
Though they have yet to match Gandhi's political acumen, Aquino, Chamorro and Bhutto share with the late Indian Prime Minister the same aristocratic sense of destiny. No other politicians -- certainly no men -- were capable of leading their countries at the time of their ascendancy. Aquino and Chamorro united quarrelsome opposition groups. Only Bhutto had the charisma to overcome the puritanical appeal of Mohammed Zia ul-Haq's Islamic regime. But winning was the easy part. Ruling has proved problematic...
...moment, Chamorro has buffers. Nicaraguans can blame political turmoil on Sandinista subterfuge and hyperinflation on the previous regime and, perhaps, on Chamorro's son-in-law Antonio Lacayo, who runs the government. But Aquino and Bhutto have spent much of their popular support. Unable to end Pakistan's ethnic strife, Bhutto has fallen, and her match-made husband Asif Zardari has been accused of corruption. With each threat of a coup, the Philippine economy falters, and Aquino's grip grows shakier...