Negative selection

In biology, negative selection is artificial selection in which negative, rather then positive traits of a species are selected. It is generaly not desirable, but caused by bad management, where people would eat the best plants or animals they have, leading to worse and worse stock; it occured frequently, for example, in primitive beekeeping.

A simplistic definition of natural selection would say it can never give rise to negative selection. However with a small population and the non-deterministic nature of inheritance of traits, it is possible though unlikely.

Some proponents of eugenics argue that medicine and other technical, social and cultural practices cause negative selection in humans. According to them, human, as a species, manifests more and more negative traits as a result of this.

In politics, negative selection is a process that occurs in rigid hierarchies, most notably dictatorships.

The person on the top of the hierarchy, wishing to remain in power forever, chooses its associates with the prime criteria of incompetence - they must not be competent enought to remove him from power. The associates do the same with those below them in the hierarchy, and the hierarchy is progressively filled with more and more incompetent people. If the dictator sees that he is threathened nonetheless, he will remove those that threaten him from their positions - "cleanse" the hierarchy. Emptied positions in the hierarchy are normally filled with people from below - those that were less competent then their previous masters. So, over the course of time, the hierarchy becomes less and less effective. As this happens relatively often, once when the dictator dies, or is removed by some external influence, what remains is a grossly ineffective hierarchy.

It is thought that this is one of the major factors responsible for problems of the former communist countries during their transition.