Imagen del autor
19 Obras 1,297 Miembros 24 Reseñas 1 Preferidas

Sobre El Autor

Créditos de la imagen: Photograph by Bill Holsinger-Robinson, taken during his 2009 TED presentation on the future of Iran.

Obras de Bruce Bueno de Mesquita

Etiquetado

Conocimiento común

Miembros

Reseñas

When I glanced the title, my first thought was that it is another concoction of superficial factoids drawn from a few banal cases. It was anything but. Continuing the line of an honest and impartial researcher, much in the vein of Ecologic by David Clegg and Origin of Wealth by Eric Beinhocker, the authors allow you to see a number of significant events from an unexpectedly curious, yet still very convincing point of view. They don’t hide their democratic leanings, but these aspirations and ideals don’t hinder their ability to find flaws with the democracies and give apt autocrats their due, like in case of Lenin. What they after is efficiency. In the case of this book efficiency means obtaining and staying in power and responding to various political threats (and natural disasters) successfully. That means if a leader succeeds in this, her (I think the authors had a field day reducing ad absurdum recent fad of installing pronoun SHE as a main protagonist instead of more traditional HE. In the context of this book this trick never failed to extract an extra smile from me) legacy is worth studying and at times admiring. However they don’t condone autocracy. They practically (some may say cynically) demonstrate that keeping power is politician’s main task. Benefits to populace such as humane and kind government are mostly a byproduct in democracy or a grudging concession in tyranny. Insightful revelations include answers to many other burning issues including the constant failure of foreign aid to Third World countries. Authors’ conclusions are based on an impressive array of examples, mostly from the XX and XXI centuries (as recent as 2011). Equipped with this tome you’ll be able to run any nation in the world, or rather stay in power once you grabbed it.… (más)
 
Denunciada
Den85 | 18 reseñas más. | Jan 3, 2024 |
You know how at your most cynical moments, you sometimes think any political decision is ultimately just about maintaining power anyway possible?

You're right.

Bueno de Mesquita and Smith tell you basically what no one who truly believes in any political process (authoritarian or democrat) can tolerate:

1. political goal number 1 is to stay power
2. staying in power is about keeping your coalition of powerful support as small as possible
3. broadening your coalition and other such reforms really don't make a lot of sense if you want to stay in power.

It's harsh but the book is written so well and engagingly that you forget you're taking in a work of hardcore political science. Copious research and case studies went into making what could have been an extremely wonky read feel indeed like a handbook. The chapter's presaging authoritarian tactics with a democratic framework (i.e. ratfucking) are especially chilling and prescient given that they were written well before the rise of the alt-right and global populist/fascist movements.
… (más)
 
Denunciada
Kavinay | 18 reseñas más. | Jan 2, 2023 |
They apply their framework describing selectors, influencers and selectors to politics and organizational behavior in several contexts: modern corporations, democracies, autocracies and historical empires. It explains why former colonies like Nigeria after their independence fail to improve economic prospects for their citizens despite aid from wealthy nations, why democracies tend to improve things for citizens and autocracies don't, why debt forgiveness counter-intuitively harms the people it says it's trying to help.… (más)
 
Denunciada
Castinet | 18 reseñas más. | Dec 11, 2022 |
BBDM is a complicated thinker and is not afraid to take on difficult subjects. I don't agree with all his analysis and he simplifies everywhere. But he makes a good case that presidential power is often put to the purpose of achieving personal goals that have little to do with helping the average citizen. The analysis is simplistic but remarkable in how well it matches to actions taken by some of our greatest leaders. He challenged some deeply held assumptions about our country and its given me lots to think about.… (más)
 
Denunciada
rlxdoc | Oct 30, 2022 |

Premios

También Puede Gustarte

Autores relacionados

Estadísticas

Obras
19
Miembros
1,297
Popularidad
#19,797
Valoración
3.9
Reseñas
24
ISBNs
74
Idiomas
3
Favorito
1

Tablas y Gráficos