And though they spare few thoughts for preparing a successor, another autocrat is often waiting in the wings.
And there has been no indication during the current election "campaign" that Nazarbayev is preparing a successor.
Further meetings aimed at preparing a successor to the Kyoto Protocol ahead of a summit meeting scheduled for November 29 to December 10 in Cancún, Mex., were held in Bonn, Ger., from May 31 to June 11 and August 2 6.
Like Herbert von Karajan, who stayed at the helm of the Berlin Philharmonic longer than was good for either of them, Wolfgang has neither found the right moment to step down nor has he adequately prepared a successor.
Once the America Online-Time Warner deal was formally completed in January, Mr. Levin said, he turned in earnest to the task of preparing for his successor.
How odd, then, that Team Bush seems to have lapsed on what is arguably its most important economic task: preparing America for a successor to Alan Greenspan.Don't panic.
North Korea watchers will scrutinize a new lineup for any sign that Mr. Kim is preparing to name a successor from one of his three known sons or is favoring a collective leadership of political and military advisers.
A year after Kim Dotcom's arrest and the taking down of his Megaupload file-storage site, the internet entrepreneur is preparing to unveil a successor cyber-locker site, and has renewed his attack on US prosecutors.
North Korea watchers will scrutinize a new lineup for any sign that Mr. Kim is preparing to name a successor from among his three known sons, or is favoring a collective leadership of political and military advisers.
It was after Kim Jong Il's stroke in 2008, as the regime began preparing Kim Jong Un as a successor, that Jang began his meteoric rise to the inner circle, an ascension that gained speed after Kim Jong Il's death from a heart attack in December 2011.
