The Dictator's Highway


Book Description

After seizing power in a violent coup, President Augusto Pinochet ordered the construction of the Carretera Austral, a highway across Chile's southern wilderness. In an absorbing account, Justin Walker explores this territory from one end to the other, moving from village to village by any available means. His expertly crafted descriptions create a vivid picture of Chilean Patagonia. Combining independent travel with local history, social conscience with environmental awareness, and contemplative reflections with light-hearted humour, The Dictator's Highway is a unique book and a compelling read. Includes 17 maps and 24 photographs.




The Dictator's Handbook


Book Description

Explains the theory of political survival, particularly in cases of dictators and despotic governments, arguing that political leaders seek to stay in power using any means necessary, most commonly by attending to the interests of certain coalitions.




The Dictator's Army


Book Description

In The Dictator's Army, Caitlin Talmadge presents a compelling new argument to help us understand why authoritarian militaries sometimes fight very well—and sometimes very poorly. Talmadge's framework for understanding battlefield effectiveness focuses on four key sets of military organizational practices: promotion patterns, training regimens, command arrangements, and information management. Different regimes face different domestic and international threat environments, leading their militaries to adopt different policies in these key areas of organizational behavior.Authoritarian regimes facing significant coup threats are likely to adopt practices that squander the state's military power, while regimes lacking such threats and possessing ambitious foreign policy goals are likely to adopt the effective practices often associated with democracies. Talmadge shows the importance of threat conditions and military organizational practices for battlefield performance in two paired comparisons of states at war: North and South Vietnam (1963–1975) and Iran and Iraq (1980–1988). Drawing on extensive documentary sources, her analysis demonstrates that threats and practices can vary not only between authoritarian regimes but also within them, either over time or across different military units. The result is a persuasive explanation of otherwise puzzling behavior by authoritarian militaries. The Dictator's Army offers a vital practical tool for those seeking to assess the likely course, costs, and outcomes of future conflicts involving nondemocratic adversaries, allies, or coalition partners.




The South: Travelogue02


Book Description

There are a bazillion titles on bookstore shelves and more than a few are travel-themed, but let me assure you: the Travelogues are different. These aren't the “got up, had banana pancake for breakfast, before shuffling-off to see some temples” kinds of stories. That’s probably because I’m not your typical fuddy-duddy travel writer. “Real” travel writers are glamorous, but real traveling is all I know. Vacations are when everything is safe and convenient and when you come to expect words like ‘aioli’ on the menu and when every “adventure” can be charged to American Express. Real traveling, on the other hand, is when everything can happen and nothing happens as planned and, whatever happened, mañana it will seem like a damn fine stroke of luck. At its most banal, day-to-day, real traveling is anything but normal and never glamorous. Except, maybe, in retrospect. The reality is that —very often— I have no idea where I’m going, except that I am. Nor how I’m gonna get there, except that I will. All these stories unfold as they may. That’s what these books are about. That’s what makes them different. The Travelogues pick up where traditional travel literature leaves off. They don’t mess around, pretending to describe every experience as if it were the feature in Condé Nast Traveler. They do, however, reveal what it’s really like to travel Out There. They describe everything: the good, the twisted, the ugly, and —occasionally— the sublime. No punches are pulled. It’s all in there. These are all out-of-the-ordinary experiences that lie within reach of ordinary people like you and I. Anyone can go and do those things. You too..., but only if you want to. That’s what the Travelogues are. That’s what “The South” is. Go ahead: discover the new kind of travel writing.




Duel with A Dictator


Book Description

A Duel with a Dictator may well be a trashcan of rotten African politics. It is a tale of an African dictator parroting democracy. This is a story of intrigue, gross human rights abuses, and political violence within the tradition of African tyrants. But this despot and looter-this omnipotent god, President Wadhabo-must face off with a single-minded opposition activist. In Paula Okappah, we see a determined African woman pitied against a crooked tyranny. A great irony in the twenty-first century is that Western democracies still roll out red carpets for these repressive African pretenders to the throne. It is unbelievable




The Dictator's Shadow


Book Description

A gripping memoir of life in Chile under Augusto Pinochet, the horrors perpetrated by his regime, and what it took to overthrow him.




Doing Business with the Dictators


Book Description

The United Fruit Company (UFCO) developed an unprecedented relationship with Guatemala. By 1944, UFCO owned 566,000 acres, employed 20,000 people, and operated 96 per cent of Guatemala's 719 miles of railroad.




Recovering dictators' plunder


Book Description




The Dictator's Learning Curve


Book Description

In this riveting anatomy of authoritarianism, acclaimed journalist William Dobson takes us inside the battle between dictators and those who would challenge their rule. Recent history has seen an incredible moment in the war between dictators and democracy—with waves of protests sweeping Syria and Yemen, and despots falling in Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya. But the Arab Spring is only the latest front in a global battle between freedom and repression, a battle that, until recently, dictators have been winning hands-down. The problem is that today’s authoritarians are not like the frozen-in-time, ready-to-crack regimes of Burma and North Korea. They are ever-morphing, technologically savvy, and internationally connected, and have replaced more brutal forms of intimidation with subtle coercion. The Dictator’s Learning Curve explains this historic moment and provides crucial insight into the fight for democracy.