The Dictator's Handbook

Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics

De: Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, Alastair Smith

Narrado por: Dan Woren

“A lucidly written, shrewdly argued meditation on how democrats and dictators preserve political authority.” —Wall Street Journal
Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith’s canonical book on political science turns conventional wisdom on its head. They start from a single proposition: leaders do whatever keeps them in power. They don’t care about the “national interest”—or even their subjects—unless they must. As Bueno de Mesquita and Smith show, 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. And it is also the key to returning power to the people.

Reseñas de la Crítica

Simply the best book on politics written.... Every citizen should read this book.—CGP Grey

A lucidly written, shrewdly argued meditation on how democrats and dictators preserve political authority...Bueno de Mesquita and Smith are polymathic, drawing on economics, history, and political science to make their points...The reader will be hard-pressed to find a single government that doesn't largely operate according to Messrs. Bueno de Mesquita and Smith's model. So the next time a hand-wringing politician, Democrat or Republican, claims to be taking a position for the 'good of his country,'remember to replace the word 'country' with 'career.'—Wall Street Journal

Machiavelli's The Prince has a new rival. It's The Dictator's Handbook by Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith.... This is a fantastically thought-provoking read. I found myself not wanting to agree but actually, for the most part, being convinced that the cynical analysis is the true one.—Enlightenment Economics

In this fascinating book Bueno de Mesquita and Smith spin out their view of governance: that all successful leaders, dictators and democrats, can best be understood as almost entirely driven by their own political survival-a view they characterize as 'cynical, but we fear accurate.' Yet as we follow the authors through their brilliant historical assessments of leaders' choices-from Caesar to Tammany Hall and the Green Bay Packers-we gradually realize that their brand of cynicism yields extremely realistic guidance about spreading the rule of law, decent government, and democracy. James Madison would have loved this book.—R. James Woolsey Director of Central Intelligence, 1993-1995, and Chairman, Foundation for Defense of Democracies

In this book, Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith teach us to see dictatorship as just another form of politics, and from this perspective they deepen our understanding of all political systems.—Roger Myerson, Glen A. Lloyd Distinguished Service Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago

The role coalitions play in the success or effectiveness of political leaders

After listening to a few pages of the audiobook, i was tempted to give up on it (basically because I despise dictators). However, I became engrossed in the frankness and clarity of the author’s (and the recording’s) descriptions and explanations for the real politik of dictatorships, some of which is relevant to democratically elected leaders.

Dry

Hard to get into, doesn’t go into details very well. Gives a broad overview of most circumstances and repeats a lot of the same information over and over again. Seemingly biased about the US politics concerning the most recent election, considering it covers fraud and corruption in other countries voting practices yet leaves out the 2020 election allegations.

An eye opening experience.

I enjoyed the historical context in which it was made well documented. A must read for anyone interested in political history.

Abundance of Statistics.

Good detailed dive into the fundamentals of political power dynamics. Authors discuss the causes and effects of the two major political power structures - autocratic and democratic. They provide abundant statistics and graphs to support their models and then weave examples and anecdotes throughout. Great read for today's changing world. I expect most of the hypothesis will still be relevent a century from now.

Deep insights and revelations

I wish I had read this book earlier in life, the world would have been easier to understand. The authors outline rules of leadership that explain the actual behavior of national and corporate leaders. Essential insights needed to approach some of our intractable social and economic problems.

Penetrating

This is the second book I’ve read/listened written by Mr. de Mesquita, the first book was the invention of power. Instead seeing politics through an idealogical lens, his ideas about politics are more inclined to human nature, backed by a lot of examples and data. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in politics. Also, I would love to read what professor de Mesquita have to say about the competition or maybe cooperation between China and the U.S.

Truth isn't always pretty.

I found a lot of valuable information in here about how our world works. I think this kind of information is helpful to know when solving a problem.

great book but not perfect

overall it is an excellent book.the last part is a little overstretched. one factor cannot be dominant, especially when the derivative is diminishing

Outstanding book

As a graduate of Foreign Relations, I find this book invaluable. Recommended by one of our professors, it provides a deep understanding of power dynamics. This book will undoubtedly be a cornerstone of my professional development.

A solid grasp of the concepts—until recent times.

The author does a great job getting into the mechanics of the how and the why of human power dynamics in social structures—but then seems to throw them all out the window after Trump’s election in 2016. Perhaps he did not want to anger the current set of “key supporters.” His apparent sudden naïveté and myopic assessment of current times is surprising to the point where it almost seems intentional.