{"product_id":"the-dictators-handbook-why-bad-behavior-is-almost-always-good-politics","title":"The Dictator's Handbook: Why Bad Behavior Is Almost Always Good Politics","description":"\u003cdiv data-a-expander-name=\"book_description_expander\" data-a-expander-collapsed-height=\"280\" class=\"a-expander-collapsed-height a-row a-expander-container a-spacing-base a-expander-partial-collapse-container\" style=\"max-height:280px\"\u003e \u003cdiv data-expanded=\"false\" class=\"a-expander-content a-expander-partial-collapse-content\"\u003e \u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e‚ÄúA lucidly written, shrewdly argued meditation on how democrats and dictators preserve political authority.‚Äù ‚Äî\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eWall Street Journal\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e   \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith‚Äôs 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‚Äôt care about the ‚Äúnational interest‚Äù‚Äîor even their subjects‚Äîunless 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.\u003c\/span\u003e  \u003c\/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"a-expander-header a-expander-partial-collapse-header\" style=\"opacity: 0; display: none;\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"a-expander-content-fade\"\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ca href=\"javascript:void(0)\" role=\"button\" data-action=\"a-expander-toggle\" class=\"a-declarative\" data-a-expander-toggle='{\"allowLinkDefault\":true, \"expand_prompt\":\"Read more\", \"collapse_prompt\":\"Read less\"}'\u003e\u003ci class=\"a-icon a-icon-extender-expand\"\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-expander-prompt\"\u003eRead more\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e \u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"PublicAffairs","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50548237467933,"sku":"9781541701366","price":16.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0901\/5692\/5213\/files\/9781541701366.jpg?v=1761676554","url":"https:\/\/bookdelico.com\/products\/the-dictators-handbook-why-bad-behavior-is-almost-always-good-politics","provider":"Book Delico ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}