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This Is Real: The Dictator’s Handbook
The Dictator’s Handbook was a frightening and fascinating read. I came across it from a YouTube video that nicely summarizes many of its premises and consequences.
Appropriately, the book comes with the subtitle: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics.
It’s a highly plausible analysis of political and other power structures, and what leads them to be more democratic — or more oppressive. It also discusses why it’s difficult to have a dictator who is both benevolent and effective. It’s written by a pair of political science professors, and filled with historical examples.
It was written a couple of years before the most recent US presidential election, but it has some… implications, nevertheless.
No dictators were harmed in the making of this book.
