The most recent entry into the world of politics, at least in south Asia, is Bilawal Zardari, the 24-year-old Oxford University graduate son of slain former prime minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto.

Bilawal’s inaugural speech at Garhi Khuda Bukhsh mausoleum on the fifth anniversary of his mother’s assassination on Thursday focused mostly on him being the true inheritor of the Bhutto legacy, when in fact he belongs to the Zardari tribe. It must also be noted here that while the Bhutto family -  from patriarch Zulfikar Ali who founded the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) to Benazir and her brothers Mir Murtaza and Shahnawaz – has enjoyed public support for its 65-year role in the country’s government, this is not the case with Bilawal’s father, President Asif Ali Zardari.

The sway that political dynasties have over public imagination is one of the most prominent aspects of governance in Asia. From Thailand to India, nearly everyone who is in power has already been groomed for it by a relative before them. Not only have these family coalitions cemented their power grids for years to come, but the image-building and heir promotion is such that their presence seems permanent in public memory.

Bilawal is not the only one testing the waters; in neighbouring India, Congress Party president Sonia Gandhi’s son Rahul is being primed for office to continue the lineage of the Nehru/Gandhi (no relation to the Father of the Nation Mohandas K Gandhi), dynasty that started with Jawaharlal Nehru in the 1940s.

But unlike Bilawal, Rahul Gandhi is less forthcoming about his political plans, and often comes across as a reluctant heir to his family’s mantle at the helm of Indian government.

Bilawal openly criticised his country’s judiciary for failing to conclude trials of people arrested in connection with his mother’s murder in 2007 in his fiery speech last week.

Rahul, in contrast, faced a terrible election result in his family’s constituency of Amethi, Uttar Pradesh state this summer, and has yet to hold an official cabinet position.

Britain, once the colonial master of India and Pakistan, too seems to be entering an era of political dynasties with the 2015 general elections. As many as six aspirants, children of senior Labour politicians, are readying themselves to become Members of Parliament.

Of these, the most prominent is Euan Blair, son of former prime minister Tony Blair, who has cultivated an impressive work experience record in the United States with an internship at Capitol Hill and Morgan Stanley investment bank. Also on the list are Will Straw, son of former foreign secretary Jack Straw, Joe Dromey, younger son of Labour’s deputy leader Harriet Harman, and Emily Benn, granddaughter of Tony Benn.

In an inadvertent reflection of Asian trends, Britain’s new political dynasties are emerging from a Labour rather than Conservative party background.