My colleagues “Bruce Bueno De Mesquita”:http://politics.as.nyu.edu/object/brucebuenodemesquita and “Alastair Smith”:http://politics.as.nyu.edu/object/AlastairSmith have a new book that comes out this week called The Dictator’s Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics. In their own words, in the book Bueno de Mesquita and Smith
…approach politics through the lens of individual leaders. Leaders in all organizations face the same challenges: they must come to power and, once there, find ways to sustain themselves in office. This is true whether the organization is a democratic government, a dictatorship, a corporation, a church, a charity or an international organization. Politics is not fundamentally different in any of these organizations, what differs is the resources leaders have and the constraints they face. Their cynical, although we fear accurate, account of politics provides an insight into many contemporary events and offers practical advice for improving the world.
In conjunction with the release of the book, Bueno de Mesquita and Smith will be providing a series of guest posts to _The Monkey Cage_ this week and next that illustrate the types of arguments and analyses made in the book. We hope you enjoy the posts, and for those who want more, the book is “already available for purchase at Amazon.com”:http://www.amazon.com/Dictators-Handbook-Behavior-Almost-Politics/dp/161039044X!