The Political Economy of Dictatorship

ISBN-13: 9780521794497 / Angielski / Miękka / 2000 / 404 str.

Ronald Wintrobe

Opis

Although much of the world still lives today, as always, under dictatorship, the behavior of these regimes and of their leaders often appears irrational and mysterious. This book uses rational choice theory to understand dictators: How do "successful" dictatorships stay in power? What determines the repressiveness of a regime? How do their economies work? The book contains many applications, including chapters on Nazi Germany, Soviet Communism, South Africa under apartheid, and Pinochet's Chile. It also provides a guide to the policies that should be followed by the democracies towards dictatorships.

Recenzje

'This is an important book and essential reading for students of democratization, especially, but alas! not exclusively, the democratization of authoritarian regimes.' Peter Calvert, University of Southampton

Spis treści

Acknowledgements; Part I. Introduction: 1. The problem; 2. The dictator's dilemma; Part II. Equilibrium Political Repression: 3. The tinpot and the totalitarian; 4. Tyranny and timocracy; 5. A more general model; Part III. Economics of Autocracy: 6. The economy of dictatorship; 7. Redistribution and rent-seeking; 8. Apartheid; 9. The bureaucratic economy I: the model; 10. The bureaucratic economy II: rise and fall; Part IV. The Dynamics of Dictatorship: 11. Democracy in the inaction zone; 12. Ethnic conflict and nationalism: from expressionism and futurism to kitsch; 13. The simple economics of criminal bureaucratic responsibility; Part V. Conclusion: 14. The machinery of dictatorship; References; Indexes.