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Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics
Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, Alastair Smith
ISBN: 9781610390446
Format: Hardback
Publisher:The Perseus Books Group
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Starting from the simple premise that leaders pursue their own ends, and that populations either have, or more often don't have, the power to constrain them to a significant degree, this book looks at politics, the choices of public policies, and decisions about war and peace as lying outside of conventional thinking about culture and history.
In this title, two renowned political scientists make the contrarian, research-based case that - regardless of any other factors political scientists or historians may find relevant - the calculations and actions of rulers are the driving force of all politics, and the primary goal of rulers is to maintain power as long as possible. In this clever and accessible book, Bueno de Mesquita and Smith introduce us to their perspective of the political world. They bare the logic of politics, starting from the simple premise that leaders pursue their own ends, and that populations either have, or more often don't have, the power to constrain them to a significant degree. The book is organized by a series interconnected questions, among them: Why do leaders who wreck their countries keep their jobs for so long? Why do autocracies have dismal economic policies? How are there so many suffering people in resource-rich lands? Why do 'natural disasters' disproportionately strike poor nations? Why do 'evil-doers' so often collect loads of foreign aid? Why are democracies so good at war? In answering these questions, the authors look at politics, the choices of public policies, and even decisions about war and peace as lying outside of conventional thinking about culture and history. They set aside ideas of civic virtue and psychopathology. Such notions simply are not central to understanding what leaders do and why they do it. Instead, Bueno de Mesquita and Smith see politicians as self-interested louts, just the sort of people you wouldn't want to have over for dinner, but without whom you might not have dinner at all. And from this perspective, they are able to answer some perplexing mysteries of politics, shed light on what we read in the newspapers every single day, and offer realistic ways of improving human governance.
| ISBN | 161039044X | | Pages | 336 | | ISBN13 | 9781610390446
(What's this?) | | Weight (grammes) | 590 | | Publisher | The Perseus Books Group | | Published in | New York | | Imprint | PublicAffairs,U.S. | | Height (mm) | 235 | | Format | Hardback | | Width (mm) | 155 | | Publication date | 13 Oct 2011 | | Spine width (mm) | 36 | | DEWEY | 320.01 | | Academic level | General | | DEWEY edition | DC22 | |
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"Enlightenment Economics," July 14, 2011"Machiavelli's "The Prince "has a new rival. It's THE DICTATOR'S HANDBOOK by Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith.... This is a fantastically thought-provoking read. I found myself not wanting to agree but actually, for the most part, being convinced that the cynical analysis is the true one.""R. James Woolsey Director of Central Intelligence, 1993-1995, and Chairman, Foundation for Defense of Democracies"," "July, 2011"In this fascinating book Bueno de Mesquita and Smith spin out their view of governance: that all successful leaders, dictators and democrats, can best be understood as almost entirely driven by their own political survival--a view they characterize as 'cynical, but we fear accurate.' Yet as we follow the authors through their brilliant historical assessments of leaders' choices--from Caesar to Tammany Hall and the Green Bay Packers--we gradually realize that their brand of cynicism yields extremely realistic guidance about spreading the rule of law, decent government, and democracy. James Madison would have loved this book." "Roger Myerson, Glen A. Lloyd Distinguished Service Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago, "July, 2011"In this book, Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith teach us to see dictatorship as just another form of politics, and from this perspective they deepen our understanding of all political systems." "Wall Street Journal," September 24, 2011"A lucidly written, shrewdly argued meditation on how democrats and dictators preserve political authority.... In a style reminiscent of "Freakonomics," Messrs. Bueno de Mesquita and Smith present dozens of clever examples... The most fascinating chapter in "The Dictator's Handbook" concerns the rewards that governments provide other governments. The authors make the obvious, but nevertheless controversial, argument that almost all aid money is dispersed not to alleviate poverty but to purchase loyalty and influence....
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