Full name: The Dictator's Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics

Authors: Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, Alastair Smith Rank: Rating: Original Rating: Pop Rating: Genres/categories: Politics, Non Fiction, History, Philosophy, Economics Purchase/reserch links: Goodreads LibraryThing Amazon ISBNs: 9781610391849 1610391845

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 single assertion: Leaders do whatever keeps them in power. They don't care about the "national interest"-or even their subjects-unless they have to. This clever and accessible book shows that the difference between tyrants and democrats is just a convenient fiction. Governments do not differ in kind but only in the number of essential supporters, or backs that need scratching. The size of this group determines almost everything about politics: what leaders can get away with, and the quality of life or misery under them. The picture the authors paint is not pretty. But it just may be the truth, which is a good starting point for anyone seeking to improve human governance. Similar books: Culture War? by Morris P. Fiorina Soft Power by Joseph S. Nye Jr. The No Spin Zone by Bill O'Reilly Who's Looking Out for You? by Bill O'Reilly Banana Republicans by Sheldon Rampton 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America by Bernard Goldberg Beyond the Messy Truth by Van Jones A National Party No More by Zell Miller How to Overthrow the Government by Arianna Huffington Crashing the Party by Ralph Nader Conservative Victory by Sean Hannity See, I Told You So by Rush Limbaugh Liberty and Tyranny by Mark R. Levin Doctrines and Visions by Noam Chomsky No Is Not Enough by Naomi Klein Liberty Defined by Ron Paul The Vision of the Anointed by Thomas Sowell A Conflict of Visions by Thomas Sowell Requiem for the American Dream by Noam Chomsky Utopia for Realists by Rutger Bregman