The Dictator's Learning Curve
Tyranny and Democracy in The Modern World
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Beschreibung des Verlags
In this riveting anatomy of the new face of authoritarianism, acclaimed journalist William Dobson takes us inside the battle between modern dictators and those who challenge their rule.
From Tahrir Square to the Kremlin, we have witnessed an incredible moment in the war between dictators and democracy. The problem is that today's authoritarians are not like the frozen-in-time, ready-to-crack regime of North Korea. They are ever-morphing, technologically savvy, and have replaced more brutal forms of intimidation with subtle coercion. But as dictators have become more nimble, so have the inspiring people who oppose their rule.
The Dictator's Learning Curve explains this historic moment and offers hope for the future of freedom.
'Says something really fresh about the world we live in' Sunday Telegraph
'Timely, authoritative and as readable as a novel' Prospect
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Totalitarian dictatorships are as obsolete as North Korean propaganda posters, but authoritarian regimes remain plentiful and powerful. In this deft, incisive book, Dobson, the politics and foreign editor for Slate, shows how the rulers of Russia, China, and Venezuela "have gone to great lengths to turn disinterest in political life into a public virtue" by promoting economic prosperity and relying on widespread political apathy. This battle is being joined by highly adaptable and technologically savvy democracy activists, many of them taking their cues from the political philosopher Gene Sharp (author of the nonviolent activist treatise From Dictatorship to Democracy) and veterans of Otpor, the Serbian youth movement that toppled Slobodan Milosevic in 2000. In one colorful passage, Dobson describes visiting a jailed opponent of President Hugo Ch vez, then being tailed by Venezuelan security forces, a comic and chilling incident that encapsulates that regime's nominal openness and its relentless paranoia, fueled "by a siege mentality that saw enemies lurking everywhere." Dobson also examines the techniques used by dictatorships to hang on to power, from the mix of sanctioned dissent and centralized control of state television in Putin's Russia to former Egyptian strongman Hosni Mubarak's brutal methods. The mix of perspectives results in an impressive overview of the global struggle between authoritarian power and determined advocates of political freedom.
