Book SummaryThe Dictator's Handbook, by Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of The Dictator's Handbook

People often discuss political leaders in terms of their ideologies, their dedication to their people, or their backgrounds. To understand the choices leaders make, though, you only need to consider one thing: their desire for power.

In The Dictator’s Handbook, political scientists Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith argue that the primary goal of all leaders is to get power and hold onto it as long as possible. This is true in all political systems—the differences between them come from how their leaders gain power and who they’re accountable to. Bueno de Mesquita and Smith illustrate this by comparing democracies and dictatorships throughout the book, concluding that the greater accountability of democracy leaves the people better off.

(Shortform note: The authors...

The Dictator's Handbook Summary Part 1: How Leaders Seize Power

Before leaders can wield power, they have to secure it. The authors explain that both dictators and democrats follow the same two-step process to seize power:

1. Gather the support necessary to control the country
2. Replace their country’s existing government

Part 1 of our guide will explain why both of these steps are necessary and how different types of leaders follow them.

(Shortform note: While the authors mainly focus on how leaders gain control over existing governments, nations, and large corporations, smaller scale leaders can also build their organizations without having to seize power from anyone else. For example, works like Eric Ries’s The Lean Startup or Chris Guillebeau’s The $100 Dollar Startup discuss how entrepreneurs can build and run their own companies from scratch, while organizers can create new social or political movements and organizations.)

Step #1: Create a Power Bloc

**The authors explain that to secure power, a leader must first...

The Dictator's Handbook Summary Part 2: How Leaders Stay In Power

The authors explain that after seizing power, leaders must work consistently to stay in power. This requires ensuring continued loyalty from their power bloc—otherwise, they won’t be able to control the country and would risk being replaced. According to the authors, leaders use three main methods to ensure the loyalty of their power blocs:

1. Reward support
2. Punish dissent
3. Pacify revolts

Part 2 of our guide will focus on how both dictators and democrats use these methods to stay in power.

(Shortform note: Due to the way certain nations run their electoral systems, leaders occasionally gain control over their nations without having any loyal power bloc. But in these cases, it’s debatable the extent to which the leader is actually in power—they might hold an office of leadership but fail to do anything with it. For example, US President Millard Fillmore took office in 1850 when his predecessor Zachary Taylor died suddenly. Despite having no real support from his party and not actually being elected, Fillmore was still president for three years—though he...

The Dictator's Handbook Summary Part 3: How Leaders Interact

While the size and composition of power blocs determine a leader’s domestic politics, the authors argue that power blocs influence international politics as well. Leaders are both constrained by the needs of their power blocs and encouraged to pursue their interests abroad.

(Shortform note: The authors are most closely aligned with the realist school of international relations. According to realists, each nation is concerned first and foremost with securing its own national interests and security. Since leaders and their power blocs are concerned first and foremost with remaining in power, it follows that this is how they would approach international affairs.)

In Part 3 of our guide, we’ll discuss how leaders secure alliances and wage wars to best serve their power blocs, again comparing the approaches of dictators and democrats.

Securing Allies

The authors argue that leaders choose allies that help secure their economic and political interests. This often means allying with whoever pays best or asks for the least. Dictators are generally easier to “buy” an alliance...

The Dictator's Handbook Summary Part 4: Why Democracy Is Preferable

After comparing how dictators and democrats gain and use their power, the authors conclude that populations are better off under a democrat than they are under a dictator. This is because the larger a leader’s power bloc is, the closer their personal interests will align with the interests of the public. As previously stated, the main interest of any leader is staying in power, and keeping their power bloc happy is a crucial way to accomplish this. Therefore, a leader with a large power bloc is more accountable to the population at large, as they are personally...

Shortform Exercise: Analyze Your Nation’s Power Bloc

Consider the size and composition of your nation’s power bloc and how that might influence public policy.

Do you think your nation’s leader has a small, medium, or large power bloc? In other words, how many people do you believe determine who’s in charge of the country? Why? For example, maybe your leader has a large power bloc because they won a free and fair election to gain power.