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The Dictator's Handbook
“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…
About The Dictator's Handbook
“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.
Where to listen & where it's available
The Dictator's Handbook is available as an audiobook on Apple Books. We haven't confirmed it on Spotify yet — but you can still search there below.
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The Dictator's Handbook — frequently asked
- Is The Dictator's Handbook on Spotify?
- We haven't confirmed The Dictator's Handbook on Spotify's audiobook catalog yet. Spotify audiobooks are included with Premium (up to a monthly listening limit) in supported markets.
- Is The Dictator's Handbook on Apple Books?
- Yes — The Dictator's Handbook is available as an audiobook on Apple Books.
- Who wrote The Dictator's Handbook?
- The Dictator's Handbook is by Bruce Bueno de Mesquita & Alastair Smith.
- Where can I buy the The Dictator's Handbook audiobook?
- Audible and Amazon both carry audiobooks; use the retailer links on this page to go straight to The Dictator's Handbook. For print copies, compare Bookshop.org, Barnes & Noble, and Books-A-Million.
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