Authoritarianism What Everyone Needs to Know®

Despite the spread of democratization following the Cold War's end, all signs indicate that we are living through an era of resurgent authoritarianism. Around 40 percent of the world's people live under some form of authoritarian rule, and authoritarian regimes govern about a third of the world's countries.

In Authoritarianism: What Everyone Needs to Know®, Erica Frantz guides us through today's authoritarian wave, explaining how it came to be and what its features are. She also looks at authoritarians themselves, focusing in particular on the techniques they use to take power, the strategies they use to survive, and how they fall. Understanding how politics works in authoritarian regimes and recognizing the factors that either give rise to them or trigger their downfall is ever-more important given current global trends, and this book paves the ways for such an understanding.

An essential primer on the topic, Authoritarianism provides a clear and penetrating overview of one of the most important-and worrying-developments in contemporary world politics.

Erica Frantz is an Assistant Professor in the Political Science Department at Michigan State University. She specializes in authoritarian politics, with a focus on democratization, conflict, and development. She is also interested in the security and policy implications of authoritarian rule. She has written four books on dictatorships and development, and her work has appeared in multiple academic and policy-oriented journals.