TY  - BOOK
AU  - Bueno de Mesquita,Bruce
AU  - Smith,Alastair
TI  - The dictator's handbook: why bad behavior is almost always good politics 
SN  - 9781610391849 (paperback)
AV  - JC 330.3 B928d 2012
U1  - 303.3/4 
PY  - 2012///
CY  - New York
PB  - PublicAffairs
KW  - Political leadership
KW  - Philosophy
KW  - Liderazgo politico
KW  - Power (Social sciences)
KW  - Poder (Ciencias sociales)
KW  - Political corruption
KW  - Corrupción política
N1  - Includes bibliographical references (p. 287-299) and index; Introduction: rules to rule by -- The rules of politics -- Coming to power -- Staying in power -- Steal from the poor, give to the rich -- Getting and spending -- If corruption empowers, then absolute corruption empowers absolutely -- Foreign aid -- The people in revolt -- War, peace, and world order -- What is to be done?
N2  - For eighteen years, Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith have been part of a team revolutionizing the study of politics by turning conventional wisdom on its head. They start from a single assertion: Leaders do whatever keeps them in power. They don't care about the national interest --or even their subjects--unless they have to. This clever and accessible book shows that the difference between tyrants and democrats is 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. The picture the authors paint is not pretty. But it just may be the truth, which is a good starting point for anyone seeking to improve human governance
ER  -