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Dictators and Autocrats: Securing Power across Global Politics
In order to truly understand the emergence, endurance and legacy of autocracy, this volume of engaging essays explores how autocratic power is acquired, exercised and transferred or abruptly ended, through the careers and politics of influential figures in more than 20 countries and six regions.
The book looks at both traditional 'hard' dictators such as Hitler, Stalin and Mao, and more modern 'soft' or populist autocrats, who are in the process of transforming once fully democratic countries into autocratic states, including Erdogan in Turkey, Brasilian leader Bolsonaro, Duterte in the Philippines, Modi in India, and Orban in Hungary. The authors touch on a wide range of autocratic and dictatorial figures in past and present, including present-day autocrats, such as Putin and Xi Jinping, military leaders, and democratic leaders with authoritarian aspirations. They analyze the transition of selected autocrats from democratic or benign semi-democratic systems to harsher forms of autocracy, with either quite disastrous or more successful outcomes.
An ideal reader for students and scholars, as well as the general public, interested in international affairs, leadership studies, contemporary history and politics, global studies, security studies, economics, psychology, and behavioral studies.
The book looks at both traditional 'hard' dictators such as Hitler, Stalin and Mao, and more modern 'soft' or populist autocrats, who are in the process of transforming once fully democratic countries into autocratic states, including Erdogan in Turkey, Brasilian leader Bolsonaro, Duterte in the Philippines, Modi in India, and Orban in Hungary. The authors touch on a wide range of autocratic and dictatorial figures in past and present, including present-day autocrats, such as Putin and Xi Jinping, military leaders, and democratic leaders with authoritarian aspirations. They analyze the transition of selected autocrats from democratic or benign semi-democratic systems to harsher forms of autocracy, with either quite disastrous or more successful outcomes.
An ideal reader for students and scholars, as well as the general public, interested in international affairs, leadership studies, contemporary history and politics, global studies, security studies, economics, psychology, and behavioral studies.
464 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 31, 2021
70 people are currently reading
57 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 13, 2024
This was a large collection of essays featuring treatises on a variety of dictators and autocrats (exactly what it says on the tin). All the big names were included (except for Pol Pot, and that's someone I would like to read more about): Hitler, Stalin, Duterte, Trump, etc. Some essays were more difficult for me than others. I'm not as familiar with Chinese history and government, for example, and the names are unfamiliar to me and caused me to slow down enough that I lost the thread at times. I especially appreciated the parallels that I could draw between Castro and Duterte and Trump. Revelations galore! I found a common thread amongst all of the subjects to be the media. If you control the message, you control the people.
I picked this up for free and it was definitely worth it.
I picked this up for free and it was definitely worth it.
April 24, 2024
"In order to truly understand the emergence, endurance, and legacy of autocracy, this volume of engaging essays explores how autocratic power is acquired, exercised, and transferred or abruptly ended through the careers and politics of influential figures in more than 20 countries and six regions.
"The book looks at both traditional "hard" dictators, such as Hitler, Stalin, and Mao, and more modern "soft" or populist autocrats, who are in the process of transforming once fully democratic countries into autocratic states, including Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Turkey, Brazilian leader Jair Bolsonaro, Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines, Narendra Modi in India, and Viktor Orbán in Hungary. The authors touch on a wide range of autocratic and dictatorial figures in the past and present, including present-day autocrats, such as Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, military leaders, and democratic leaders with authoritarian aspirations. They analyze the transition of selected autocrats from democratic or benign semi-democratic systems to harsher forms of autocracy, with either quite disastrous or more successful outcomes.
"An ideal reader for students and scholars, as well as the general public, interested in international affairs, leadership studies, contemporary history and politics, global studies, security studies, economics, psychology, and behavioral studies."
~~back cover
A very informative book, and one that's highly relevant for our times. Because it's such a large book (429 pages) I elected to read just the section twenty-first-century autocrats: the major powers. The section contained chapters on Vladimir Putin: Russia's neo-patrimonial facade democracy; Xi Jinping: the rise of an authoritarian leader; Narendra Modi: elected authoritarian; and Donald J. Trump: the authoritarian style in American politics. Each chapter was quite eye-opening -- discussions about Putin here in America always highlight his dictatorial agenda and don't discuss how much he's loved in Russia. The chapter on Xi was a chilling tour of a man set on becoming his country's dictator. And of course we are all (too) familiar with Donald Trump and his drive to establish a fascist state: "Lacking any comprehension and understanding of the values and rules of US democracy, Trump essentially saw his presidency as a continuation of his role as the omnipotent and autocratic CEO of his business empire." "...throughout his last year in office Trump displayed an increasingly irrational, unpredictable, and authoritarian pattern of behavior."
Especially interesting was the subsection entitled Flawed democracy "The weakening of democracy in America did not happen overnight. It arrive gradually and slowly." "...When evaluating the democratic standards of 167 nations on the basis of 60 criteria, Norway and Iceland came out on top ... and the Democratic Republic of the Congo and North Korea were at the bottom of the pile. The United States, once seen as the world's model democracy, was ranked 19th. .. A year later, the United St6ates dropped to 21st rank, and it even came in 25th in both 2019 and 2020. ... The system, as it had been reformed in the early 1970s, finally collapsed in 2016. Donald Trump, who only recently had joined the Republican Party, was able to entirely outmaneuver both the leadership of the part.y and his Republican competitors."
"The United States, however, has been fortunate that Trump's sheer incompetence and the organizational chaos in his administration prevented the development of a full-blown autocracy during 2017-2021. US democracy and its institutions, particularly the courts, also proved their in-built resilience. Next time, however, a more competent and skillful dictator-to-be might pose an even bigger challenge. President Biden ought to use his presidency to prepare US democracy and its institutions for the next autocratic onslaught, It is only a matter of time before this assault will happen. The United States had a narrow escape; next time it might not be so lucky."
All in all, a very chilling read but a most essential one.
"The book looks at both traditional "hard" dictators, such as Hitler, Stalin, and Mao, and more modern "soft" or populist autocrats, who are in the process of transforming once fully democratic countries into autocratic states, including Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Turkey, Brazilian leader Jair Bolsonaro, Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines, Narendra Modi in India, and Viktor Orbán in Hungary. The authors touch on a wide range of autocratic and dictatorial figures in the past and present, including present-day autocrats, such as Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, military leaders, and democratic leaders with authoritarian aspirations. They analyze the transition of selected autocrats from democratic or benign semi-democratic systems to harsher forms of autocracy, with either quite disastrous or more successful outcomes.
"An ideal reader for students and scholars, as well as the general public, interested in international affairs, leadership studies, contemporary history and politics, global studies, security studies, economics, psychology, and behavioral studies."
~~back cover
A very informative book, and one that's highly relevant for our times. Because it's such a large book (429 pages) I elected to read just the section twenty-first-century autocrats: the major powers. The section contained chapters on Vladimir Putin: Russia's neo-patrimonial facade democracy; Xi Jinping: the rise of an authoritarian leader; Narendra Modi: elected authoritarian; and Donald J. Trump: the authoritarian style in American politics. Each chapter was quite eye-opening -- discussions about Putin here in America always highlight his dictatorial agenda and don't discuss how much he's loved in Russia. The chapter on Xi was a chilling tour of a man set on becoming his country's dictator. And of course we are all (too) familiar with Donald Trump and his drive to establish a fascist state: "Lacking any comprehension and understanding of the values and rules of US democracy, Trump essentially saw his presidency as a continuation of his role as the omnipotent and autocratic CEO of his business empire." "...throughout his last year in office Trump displayed an increasingly irrational, unpredictable, and authoritarian pattern of behavior."
Especially interesting was the subsection entitled Flawed democracy "The weakening of democracy in America did not happen overnight. It arrive gradually and slowly." "...When evaluating the democratic standards of 167 nations on the basis of 60 criteria, Norway and Iceland came out on top ... and the Democratic Republic of the Congo and North Korea were at the bottom of the pile. The United States, once seen as the world's model democracy, was ranked 19th. .. A year later, the United St6ates dropped to 21st rank, and it even came in 25th in both 2019 and 2020. ... The system, as it had been reformed in the early 1970s, finally collapsed in 2016. Donald Trump, who only recently had joined the Republican Party, was able to entirely outmaneuver both the leadership of the part.y and his Republican competitors."
"The United States, however, has been fortunate that Trump's sheer incompetence and the organizational chaos in his administration prevented the development of a full-blown autocracy during 2017-2021. US democracy and its institutions, particularly the courts, also proved their in-built resilience. Next time, however, a more competent and skillful dictator-to-be might pose an even bigger challenge. President Biden ought to use his presidency to prepare US democracy and its institutions for the next autocratic onslaught, It is only a matter of time before this assault will happen. The United States had a narrow escape; next time it might not be so lucky."
All in all, a very chilling read but a most essential one.
April 30, 2024
This is why we have a democracy
For anyone wondering if a Trump dictatorship would be good or bad, they should read some books like this. And should remember that dictators don't just attack their enemies they attack friends and sometimes friends attack them. This is why people say, absolute power corrupts absolutely.
For anyone wondering if a Trump dictatorship would be good or bad, they should read some books like this. And should remember that dictators don't just attack their enemies they attack friends and sometimes friends attack them. This is why people say, absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews