The dictator's handbook
by Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, Alastair Smith · first published 2011
67% recommend32% neutral1% critical
Why HN recommends it
Builds one simple model, that leaders do what keeps them in power by pleasing the coalition they depend on, and applies it to nations, corporations, and organizations. Suits readers wanting a practical lens on power.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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Read The Dictator's Handbook. Then come back and tell me if I'm rambling. https://www.amazon.com/Dictators-Handbook-Behavior-Almost-Po...
on “Leaked Emails Show Google Expected Military Drone AI Work to Grow Exponentially” ↗…pressing to the CCCP. So the government will clamp down on freedoms as best they can until the citizens can't take it anymore, then keep beating the horse until it's dead. You should read the book The Dictator's Handbook if you want to understand it better. https://www.amazon.com/Dictators-Handbook-Behavior-Almost-Po...
on ““The whole world ought to be concerned”: HK lawyers on Beijing’s “clarification”” ↗…than to be part of a distributed power structure in a larger economy. This is a very common pattern among dictators, and this is where I cite Bueno de Mesquita and Smith's Logic of Political Survival or dictator's handbook, depending on whether you want the theoretical or narrative exposition of the same basic idea. Better yet, read both.
on “Why the Soviet Union did not build a nationwide computer network (2008) [pdf]” ↗This. If anyone doesn't understand why ljw1001's comment is the correct interpretation, I highly recommend Beuno do Mesquita and Smith's "The Dictator's Handbook". https://smile.amazon.com/Dictators-Handbook-Behavior-Almost-...
on “White House announces 25 percent tariff on Chinese tech goods” ↗I highly recommend The Dictator's Handbook in order to fully understand the de facto politics going on in governments.
on “Comcast rejected by small town, residents vote for municipal fiber instead” ↗"The Dictator's Handbook" by DeMesquita and Smith is a popular take on their academic work that describes a metamodel for reasoning about power and politics that bypasses how things "may" or "should" work and talks about how…
on “Ask HN: What books changed the way you think about almost everything?” ↗…annoying problem of trying to replace you, which is actual work. You should read Smith & Bueno de Mesquita's The Logic of Political Survival, or the simpler version presented for a more general audience The Dictator's Handbook. Corporations are not little meritocratic democracies, they're zero-sum dictatorships with nice architecture. There are politics in academia, of course, but ultimately it's an unselfish environment dedicated…
on “Ask HN: Evaluation/promotion depends not on my past performance?” ↗…You strike me as quite terribly close minded though, and I don't really feel like convincing people when they adopt such a cynical attitude, so if you're actually interested you can read the excellent Dictator's Handbook by Bruce Bueno de Mesquita.
on “Epic Games chief pays $15M to protect 7,000 acres of North Carolina wilderness” ↗This is one of the Dictator's Handbook's earliest lessons (a book I cannot recommend enough, extremely insightful especially in the context of this election - https://smile.amazon.com/Dictators-Handbook-Behavior-Almost-...): Even though the…
on “Hillary only needed to switch 53,650 voters to win” ↗…I find myself reading fewer books, and spending more time with each one. I savor each chapter, considering the implications over the next day before I read the next. The latest book I've read is The Dictator's Handbook, and I've found it pivotal. It places so much in perspective. The idea that corporate governance and small-country tyranny would have so much in common is something you just agree with because it sounds…
on “The Need to Read” ↗The Dictator's Handbook: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1610391845 Fascinatingly relevant right now.
on “Ask HN: Which book have you re-read recently?” ↗If you like Arendt, check out Snyder's On Tyranny and Mesquita's The Dictator's Handbook.
on “The Origins of the American Military Coup of 2012 (1992) [pdf]” ↗…his coalition is treated well (at least compared to what their alternative would be) and that any betrayal of any kind is swiftly and brutally dealt with. Which reminds me... recommended reading: The Dictator's Handbook by de Mesquita.
on “North Korea Is Not Crazy” ↗> people think CGP Grey is a scholar on so many topics just because he sounds calm and confident His "Rules for Rulers" video is an excellent summary of The Dictator's Handbook [1], itself a summary of well-regarded selectorate theory [2]. I have yet to watch a CPG Grey video which does not honestly separate fact from opinion, and ensure the former is well sourced. His delivery…
on “SuperMeat raises $3M for lab-grown chicken” ↗The Dictator's Handbook by Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith Everyone should read it. You think you know politics, but you haven't even begun until you've read this book.
on “Ask HN: Favorite nonfiction books of 2018?” ↗