The Political Economy of Dictatorship

This book uses rational choice theory to understand the behaviour of dictators.

Ronald Wintrobe (Author)

9780521583299, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 28 March 1998

402 pages, 34 b/w illus.
23.7 x 16.1 x 2.7 cm, 0.73 kg

'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

Although much of the world still lives today, as always, under dictatorship, the behaviour of these regimes and of their leaders often appears irrational and mysterious. In The Political Economy of Dictatorship, Ronald Wintrobe uses rational choice theory to model dictatorships: their strategies for accumulating power, the constraints on their behavior, and why they are often more popular than is commonly accepted. The book explores both the politics and the economics of dictatorships, and the interaction between them. The questions addressed include: What determines the repressiveness of a regime? Can political authoritarianism be 'good' for the economy? After the fall, who should be held responsible for crimes against human rights? The book contains many applications, including chapters on Nazi Germany, Soviet Communism, South Africa under apartheid, the ancient Roman Empire and Pinochet's Chile. It also provides a guide to the policies which should be followed by the democracies towards dictatorships.

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.

Subject Areas: Political economy [KCP], Political structures: totalitarianism & dictatorship [JPHX]