The Dictator%27s Handbook

The Dictator’s Handbook: A practical Manual for the Aspiring Tyrant By Randall Wood and Carmine DeLuca When you ask the average American reader to name a good book about dictators, the one that comes to his or her mind quickly is Niccolo Machiavelli’s The Prince. What is the “Dictator's Handbook”? Written by Bruce Bueno De Mesquita, “The Dictator's Handbook: Why Bad Behavior Is Almost Always Good Politics” explores the topics of political power. The book spells out in over three hundred pages the likes of illness, foreign aid, wars, financial matters, resources, and other means of how. The Dictator’s Handbook (2011) teaches the power dynamics and optimal strategies for dictatorship. It provides a different and revolutionary approach to political analysis by skirting fuzzy appeals to higher ideals and national interests and focusing on politicians’ and leaders’ self-interest. My only complaint with the Dictator’s Handbook is its relentlessly cynical tone; but maybe the authors are simply being honest. Vincent Poirier, Montreal Read more. 114 people found this helpful. 3.0 out of 5 stars Overly simplistic but well argued.

Explore how dictators, from Mussolini to Saddam Hussein, seized, held and fell from power. Learn how six dictators, from Mussolini to Saddam Hussein, shaped the 20th century.

Overview

The Dictator 27s Handbook Online

A groundbreaking new theory of the real rules of politics: leaders do whatever keeps them in power, regardless of the national interest.


As featured on the viral video Rules for Rulers, which has been viewed over 3 million times.
Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith's canonical book on political science turned conventional wisdom on its head. They started 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 democracy is essentially 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.
Dictators

Premiered January 2019

Explore how dictators, from Mussolini to Saddam Hussein, seized, held and fell from power.

The Dictator's Handbook Audiobook

Learn how six dictators, from Mussolini to Saddam Hussein, shaped the 20th century. How did they seize and lose power? What forces were against them? Learn the answers in these six immersive hours, each a revealing portrait of brutality and power.

The Dictator 27s Handbook Summary

Learn how six dictators, from Mussolini to Saddam Hussein, shaped the 20th century. How did they seize and lose power? What forces were against them? Learn the answers in these six immersive hours, each a revealing portrait of brutality and power.

The Dictator's Handbook Wiki

  • Explore how dictators, from Mussolini to Saddam Hussein, seized, held and fell from power.

    The Dictator's Playbook | Series Promo

  • Learn how Saddam Hussein seized power in Iraq and maintained it for almost 30 years.

    Ep 2: Saddam Hussein | Preview