The Dictator's Handbook: Bad Behavior Is Almost Always Good Politics

Author: Bruce Bueno de Mesquita

Stock information

General Fields

  • : $44.99 AUD
  • : 9781610390446
  • : The Perseus Books Group
  • : PublicAffairs,U.S.
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  • : 0.59
  • : October 2011
  • : 235mm X 155mm X 36mm
  • : United States
  • : 44.99
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  • :
  • :
  • : books

Special Fields

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  • :
  • : Bruce Bueno de Mesquita
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  • : Hardback
  • :
  • :
  • :
  • : 320.01
  • : 336
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  • : illustrations
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Barcode 9781610390446
9781610390446

Description

Starting from the simple premise that leaders pursue their own ends, and that populations either have, or more often don't have, the power to constrain them to a significant degree, this book looks at politics, the choices of public policies, and decisions about war and peace as lying outside of conventional thinking about culture and history.

Reviews

"Enlightenment Economics", July 14, 2011
"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.""R. James Woolsey Director of Central Intelligence, 1993-1995, and Chairman, Foundation for Defense of Democracies"", "July, 2011"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

Author description

Bruce Bueno de Mesquita is the Julius Silver Professor of Politics and Director of the Alexander Hamilton Center for Political Economy at New York University and a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. Alastair Smith is Professor of Politics at New York University. In 1997-1998 he was selected as a National Fellow by the Hoover Institution, Stanford University.