Frantz (political analyst, Institute for Physical Sciences) and Ezrow (government, U. of Essex, UK) note that dictatorships have been part of the world's political landscape for centuries, but we know little about how they work compared to our knowledge of democratic political systems. The authors contend that dictatorial regimes are not powered by the wishes of a single person. They illustrate how leader-elite relations are heavily influenced by the nature of political institutions--and how those relations significantly influence domestic and foreign policy. In addition to a discussion of modern authoritarian politics, the authors address conflict behavior, the quality of military intelligence and other aspects of dictatorships. Annotation ⓒ2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

1. Authoritarian politics in the modern world 2. Leadership 3. Conflict behavior 4. The quality of military intelligence 5. Understanding policy changes 6. The consequences of authoritarianism