Dynasty

A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family who govern a state or other polity across generations. Dynastic succession links political authority to kinship.

Primogeniture: A succession rule that gives priority to the firstborn child, traditionally the eldest son. Primogeniture can make inheritance predictable, though its gender and birth-order rules vary.
House of Habsburg: A European dynasty that ruled the Habsburg lands and held the crowns of several major kingdoms and empires. Habsburg marriages and inheritances assembled a widely dispersed collection of territories.
Elective monarchy: A monarchy in which an electorate selects the ruler rather than succession passing automatically by inheritance. Election offers an alternative to inheriting a throne within one family.
State formation: The historical process through which centralized political institutions and territorial states emerge. Ruling families sometimes built durable states by extending authority across generations.
Hereditary monarchy: A monarchy in which the right to rule normally passes through a ruling family by inheritance. Dynasties are the family lineages through which hereditary monarchies transmit authority.
Salic law: A body of Frankish law later invoked to exclude women and their descendants from royal succession. Its use in some monarchies barred female-line claims to the throne.
Ming dynasty: A Chinese imperial dynasty that ruled from 1368 to 1644. The Ming illustrates dynastic government in imperial China after the Yuan dynasty.
Republic: A form of government in which public authority is treated as a public matter rather than a hereditary ruler's possession. Republican government rejects hereditary sovereignty as the basis for political office.
Empire: A large political formation that extends rule over diverse territories and peoples, often through conquest or unequal incorporation. Dynasties often governed empires whose territories exceeded a single kingdom or people.
Primordial state: An early form of centralized political organization that emerged from kin-based societies and local authority. Early states often tied political leadership to family and lineage.

Linked from 9 pages