000			02529nam a22002297a 4500
005			20241001145439.0
008			241001b |||||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d
020			_a9780197672938
028			_a: International Book Distributors _b: Flat No. 17, Prakash Apartment, 4405/2, 5 Ansari Road, Daryaganj, New Delhi. _c: 120737 _d: 13/09/2024
082			_a320.53 DIM
100			_aDimitrov, Martin K.
245			_aDictatorship and Information _b: Authoritatian Regime Resilience in Communist Europe and China. _c/ Martin K Dimitrov.
260			_a, New York _b: Oxford University Press _c, 2023.
300			_axix, 470p. _c: 24cm.
365			_b1767
520			_aFear pervades dictatorial regimes. Citizens fear leaders, the regime's agents fear superiors, and leaders fear the masses. The ubiquity of fear in such regimes gives rise to the "dictator's dilemma," where autocrats do not know the level of opposition they face and cannot effectively neutralize domestic threats to their rule. The dilemma has led scholars to believe that autocracies are likely to be short-lived. Yet, some autocracies have found ways to mitigate the dictator's dilemma. As Martin K. Dimitrov shows in Dictatorship and Information, substantial variability exists in the survival of nondemocratic regimes, with single-party polities having the longest average duration. Offering a systematic theory of the institutional solutions to the dictator's dilemma, Dimitrov argues that single-party autocracies have fostered channels that allow for the confidential vertical transmission of information, while also solving the problems associated with distorted information. To explain how this all works, Dimitrov focuses on communist regimes, which have the longest average lifespan among single-party autocracies and have developed the most sophisticated information-gathering institutions. Communist regimes face a variety of threats, but the main one is the masses. Dimitrov therefore examines the origins, evolution, and internal logic of the information-collection ecosystem established by communist states to monitor popular dissent. Drawing from a rich base of evidence across multiple communist regimes and nearly 100 interviews, Dimitrov reshapes our understanding of how autocrats learn--or fail to learn--about the societies they rule, and how they maintain--or lose--power.
650			_a Ubiquity of fear
650			_aDictator's dilemma
650			_aDictatorship and Information
700			_aMartin K. Dimitrov
942			_cBOOK
999			_c62488 _d62488