The Dictator's Handbook
Author
Cover artist	Brent Wilcox
Country	United States
Language	English
Subject	Political science, Social theory
Publisher	PublicAffairs
Publication date	September 1, 2011
Media type	Print (Hardcover)
Pages	319
ISBN	978-1-61039-044-6 978-1-61039-045-3 (eBook)
303.3/4
LC Class	JC330.3 .B84 2011

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Dictator's Handbook Summary

The Dictator's Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics. For eighteen years, Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith have been part of a team revolutionizing the study of politics by turning conventional wisdom on its head. They start from a.
Table of Contents Title Page Dedication Epigraph Introduction Chapter 1 - The Rules of Politics Three Political Dimensions Virtues of 3 - D Politics.

The Dictator’s Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics is a 2011 non-fiction book by Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith, published by the company PublicAffairs. It discusses how politicians gain and retain political power.

Bueno de Mesquita is a fellow at the Hoover Institution.^[1] His co-writer is also an academic,^[2] and both are political scientists.^[3]

Michael Moynihan of The Wall Street Journal stated that the writing style is similar to that of Freakonomics.^[3] Moynihan added that the conclusions the book makes originate from the fields of economics, history, and political science, leading him to call the authors 'polymathic'.^[3]

Mesquita and Smith, with other authors, previously wrote about the 'selectorate' concept in the academic book The Logic of Political Survival.^[4]^:1095

Contents[edit]

Bueno de Mesquita and Smith argue that politicians, regardless of whether they are in authoritarian dictatorships or in democracies, must stay in power by pleasing a core inner circle of power brokers, and that politicians must engage in self-interested behavior in order to stay in power.^[2] They argued that the motives of politicians are 'To come to power, to stay in power and, to the extent that they can, to keep control over money.'^[3] The main difference between the scenarios of democratic and authoritarian politicians is that democratic politicians have to please a large number of power brokers and/or the public at large while authoritarian ones please relatively small circles. These differences are illustrated in the infrastructure developed in authoritarian and democratic societies. In addition, authoritarian rulers, due to their smaller circles of power brokers, tend to have longer periods of power.^[3] The authors also stated that politicians usually do beneficial acts when these acts benefit them or when they must do the acts.^[2] The book also argues that aid to third-world countries benefits authoritarian governments.^[5]

Occasionally terminologies differ in sections of the book. Samuel Brittan of the Financial Times argued that this is sometimes confusing.^[5]

Reception[edit]

Martin Patriquin of Maclean's wrote that the authors 'make a frightfully good argument by turning an old cliché on its ear. Power doesn’t corrupt. Rather, power inevitably attracts the corrupted.'^[2]

Ed Howker of The Guardian stated that the book assumes all politicians act rationally, and that its attitude was so cynical 'that it made me flinch on more than one occasion.'^[1] He added that 'it's good to read the evidence' of how authoritarian governments and systems operate.^[1]

The Dictator 27s Handbook Pdf

Moynihan wrote that the book 'contains many points that are common-sensical'.^[3] Moynihan added that there are some minor errors in fact in the book due to its large scope.^[3]

Brittan wrote that it is 'most illuminating in the cases of dictatorships in the developing world or highly imperfect democracies such as Russia or Iran.'^[5]

Theodore McLaughlin of the University of Montreal concluded that it is a 'serviceable introduction' and 'bracing book that does indeed connect the dots across a wide array of political phenomena.'^[4]^:1099 McLaughlin criticized what he perceived were the book's failure to define what a 'winning coalition' and 'selectorate' are and other issues in the analysis.^[4]^:1098

References[edit]

^ ^a^b^cHowker, Ed (August 12, 2012). 'The Dictator's Handbook by Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith – review'. The Guardian. Retrieved November 20, 2017.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
^ ^a^b^c^dPatriquin, Martin (December 16, 2011). 'REVIEW: The Dictator's Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics'. Maclean's. Retrieved November 20, 2017.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
^ ^a^b^c^d^e^f^gMoynihan, Michael (September 24, 2011). 'Book Review: Dictator's Handbook'. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved November 20, 2017.
^ ^a^b^cMcLauchlin, Theodore (Autumn 2012). 'Reviewed Work: THE DICTATOR'S HANDBOOK: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics by Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, Alistair Smith'. International Journal. 67 (4): 1095–1099. doi:10.1177/002070201206700414. JSTOR42704949. S2CID155713009.
^ ^a^b^cBrittan, Samuel (November 20, 2011). 'The Dictator's Handbook'. Financial Times. Retrieved November 20, 2017.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)

External links[edit]

The Dictator's Handbook - PublicAffairs

Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Dictator%27s_Handbook&oldid=1021665760'

Overview

Ever wonder if the world's tyrants are using the same instruction manual? They are, and here it is. Getting to power, destroying your enemies, suppressing uprisings, stealing elections, and making a fortune are all covered in this 320 page volume, with extensive footnotes and a full bibliography. This book is full of facts and covers what the world's leaders have been doing for centuries. It offers you step-by-step autocracy, and clear instructions for becoming the world's next evil genius. Tyrants have been passing this book along from one to the other for generations. Now it's yours to read too.

The Dictator%27s Handbook