# Nepotism **Nepotism** is the appointment of family members to positions of power without regard to qualification. In the vault's framing it is corruption's human-resources department: it converts institutional posts into personal loyalty, degrading competence while concentrating control in a circle that cannot be fired by ordinary means. The federal anti-nepotism statute (5 U.S.C. § 3110) bars public officials from appointing relatives to agencies they control, but its reach into the White House staff has been contested since the 1978 amendment, and the [[Second Trump Administration]] has treated the question as effectively settled in its favor. [[Jared Kushner]]'s West Wing portfolio and subsequent Gulf-funded investment vehicle is the vault's canonical American case; the [[Trump Family Corruption Ecosystem]] maps the wider pattern. Nepotism sits beside [[Patronage]] — the same mechanism running through political rather than familial channels — and is a defining feature of mature [[Kleptocracy]], where [[Orbán Kleptocracy]] and [[Russian Oligarchy]] both show family networks absorbing state assets. This is a stub — expand with § 3110 case law, comparative dynastic politics, and the [[Dynasties Hub]] crosswalk. ## See Also - [[Corruption]] - [[Patronage]] - [[Spoils System]] - [[Trump Family Corruption Ecosystem]] - [[Dynasties Hub]]