Portrait of a Despot

Portrait of a Despot PDF Author: Charles Ochen Okwir
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 1456775685
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 441

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Book Description
US Secretary of State Madeline Albright once described them as the New Breed of African leaders. Ugandas ruler General Yoweri Museveni was one of them. In Portrait of a Despot, the contention, a very passionate one at that, is that Gen. Museveni is no more than a Modern Despot; a slightly more sophisticated version of Idi Amin; the type who lives and thrives in that grey area of politics beyond which you either become a democrat or an autocratic dictator. The book also examines how Modern Despots like George Bush Jnr, Yoweri Museveni, Meles Zenawi, Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali, Tony Blair, and many others who might be thriving quietly in your own country use Deceit, Public Relations, Patronage, Nepotism, Disenfranchisement, and above all, the Law as a tool of political oppression. With solid evidence from and or reference to Gen. Musevenis twenty five years of egregious rule in Uganda, the book demonstrates how the mighty Portrait of a Despot hanging menacingly over every strand of life in a given country can have disastrous long term consequences on democracy, good governance, and the development of State institutions. Finally, it brings you to the Scene of Crime in some truly epic political battles between President Museveni and the countrys opposition parties and leaders.

Portrait of a Despot

Portrait of a Despot PDF Author: Charles Ochen Okwir
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 1456775685
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 441

Get Book Here

Book Description
US Secretary of State Madeline Albright once described them as the New Breed of African leaders. Ugandas ruler General Yoweri Museveni was one of them. In Portrait of a Despot, the contention, a very passionate one at that, is that Gen. Museveni is no more than a Modern Despot; a slightly more sophisticated version of Idi Amin; the type who lives and thrives in that grey area of politics beyond which you either become a democrat or an autocratic dictator. The book also examines how Modern Despots like George Bush Jnr, Yoweri Museveni, Meles Zenawi, Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali, Tony Blair, and many others who might be thriving quietly in your own country use Deceit, Public Relations, Patronage, Nepotism, Disenfranchisement, and above all, the Law as a tool of political oppression. With solid evidence from and or reference to Gen. Musevenis twenty five years of egregious rule in Uganda, the book demonstrates how the mighty Portrait of a Despot hanging menacingly over every strand of life in a given country can have disastrous long term consequences on democracy, good governance, and the development of State institutions. Finally, it brings you to the Scene of Crime in some truly epic political battles between President Museveni and the countrys opposition parties and leaders.

To Kill A Democracy

To Kill A Democracy PDF Author: Debasish Roy Chowdhury
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192588273
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 200

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Book Description
India is heralded as the world's largest democracy. Yet, there is now growing alarm about its democratic health. To Kill a Democracy gets to the heart of the matter. Combining poignant life stories with sharp scholarly insight, it rejects the belief that India was once a beacon of democracy but is now being ruined by the destructive forces of Modi-style populism. The book details the much deeper historical roots of the present-day assaults on civil liberties and democratic institutions. Democracy, the authors also argue, is much more than elections and the separation of powers. It is a whole way of life lived in dignity, and that is why they pay special attention to the decaying social foundations of Indian democracy. In compelling fashion, the book describes daily struggles for survival and explains how lived social injustices and unfreedoms rob Indian elections of their meaning, while at the same time feeding the decadence and iron-fisted rule of its governing institutions. Much more than a book about India, To Kill A Democracy argues that what is happening in the country is globally important, and not just because every third person living in a democracy is an Indian. It shows that when democracies rack and ruin their social foundations, they don't just kill off the spirit and substance of democracy. They lay the foundations for despotism.

The New Despotism

The New Despotism PDF Author: John Keane
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674660064
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 321

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Book Description
An Australian Book Review Best Book of the Year A disturbing in-depth exposé of the antidemocratic practices of despotic governments now sweeping the world. One day they’ll be like us. That was once the West’s complacent and self-regarding assumption about countries emerging from poverty, imperial rule, or communism. But many have hardened into something very different from liberal democracy: what the eminent political thinker John Keane describes as a new form of despotism. And one day, he warns, we may be more like them. Drawing on extensive travels, interviews, and a lifetime of thinking about democracy and its enemies, Keane shows how governments from Russia and China through Central Asia to the Middle East and Europe have mastered a formidable combination of political tools that threaten the established ideals and practices of power-sharing democracy. They mobilize the rhetoric of democracy and win public support for workable forms of government based on patronage, dark money, steady economic growth, sophisticated media controls, strangled judiciaries, dragnet surveillance, and selective violence against their opponents. Casting doubt on such fashionable terms as dictatorship, autocracy, fascism, and authoritarianism, Keane makes a case for retrieving and refurbishing the old term “despotism” to make sense of how these regimes function and endure. He shows how they cooperate regionally and globally and draw strength from each other’s resources while breeding global anxieties and threatening the values and institutions of democracy. Like Montesquieu in the eighteenth century, Keane stresses the willing complicity of comfortable citizens in all these trends. And, like Montesquieu, he worries that the practices of despotism are closer to home than we care to admit.

The Despot's Accomplice

The Despot's Accomplice PDF Author: Brian Paul Klaas
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190668016
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 284

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Book Description
Brian Klaas of the London School of Economics believes in the transformative power of democracy. In this comprehensive book, he offers prescriptions for Western powers seeking to spread political freedom and critiques many of the halfhearted pro-democracy efforts of recent decades. The United States' recent misadventures in Iraq and Afghanistan chastened many who once espoused nation-building. But Klaas argues ceasing to promote democracy is a mistake. In addition to offering insights and examples gleaned from his global travels to investigate pseudo-democracies, Klaas also explores America itself, taking the US tradition of gerrymandering to task. At times, Klaas's crusade seems a bit too idealistic, but, ultimately, he makes a passionate and persuasive case for trying to expand democracy's shrinking reach.

Montesquieu's Science of Politics

Montesquieu's Science of Politics PDF Author: Charles de Secondat baron de Montesquieu
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 9780742511811
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 474

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Book Description
In what constitutes the only English-language collection of essays ever dedicated to the analysis of Montesquieu's contributions to political science, the contributors review some of the most vexing controversies that have arisen in the interpretation of Montesquieu's thought. By paying careful attention to the historical, political, and philosophical contexts of Montesquieu's ideas, the contributors provide fresh readings of The Spirit of Laws, clarify the goals and ambitions of its author, and point out the pertinence of his thinking to the problems of our world today.

The Despot's Apprentice

The Despot's Apprentice PDF Author: Brian Klaas
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1510735933
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 284

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Book Description
”[A] primer on the threat to democracy posed by—and I can’t believe I’m saying this—the current president of the United States.” —David Litt, New York Times bestselling author Donald Trump isn’t a despot. But he is increasingly acting like The Despot’s Apprentice, an understudy in authoritarian tactics that threaten to erode American democracy, including: Attacking the press Threatening rule of law by firing those who investigate his alleged wrongdoings Using nepotism to staff the White House and countless other techniques Donald Trump is borrowing tactics from the world’s dictators and despots. Trump’s fascination with the military, his obsession with his own cult of personality, and his deliberate campaign to blur the line between fact and falsehood are nothing new to the world of despots. But they are new to the United States. With each authoritarian tactic or tweet, Trump poses a unique threat to democratic government in the world’s most powerful democracy. At the same time, Trump’s apprenticeship has serious consequences beyond the United States. His bizarre adoration and idolization of despotic strongmen—from Russia’s Putin, to Turkey’s Erdogan, or to the Philippines’ Duterte—has transformed American foreign policy into a powerful cheerleader for some of the world’s worst regimes. In The Despot’s Apprentice, an ex-US campaign advisor who has sat with the world’s dictators explains Donald Trump’s increasingly authoritarian tactics and how Trump uniquely threatens American democracy... and how to save it from him.

Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman

Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman PDF Author: Robert K. Massie
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
ISBN: 0345408772
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 674

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Book Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • An “absorbing” (Los Angeles Times) biography of one of the most remarkable, powerful, and captivating women in Russian history—from the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Peter the Great, Nicholas and Alexandra, and The Romanovs “[A] compelling portrait not just of a Russian titan, but also of a flesh-and-blood woman.”—Newsweek ONE OF ESQUIRE’S BEST BIOGRAPHIES OF ALL TIME • ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, The Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, Salon, Vogue, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, The Providence Journal Robert K. Massie returns with another masterpiece of narrative biography, the extraordinary story of an obscure German princess who became Catherine the Great. Born into a minor noble family, Catherine transformed herself into empress of Russia by sheer determination. For thirty-four years, the government, foreign policy, cultural development, and welfare of the Russian people were in her hands. She dealt with domestic rebellion, foreign wars, and the tidal wave of political change and violence churned up by the French Revolution. Catherine’s family, friends, ministers, generals, lovers, and enemies—all are here, vividly brought to life. History offers few stories richer than that of Catherine the Great. In this book, an eternally fascinating woman is returned to life.

Clavers, the Despot's Champion

Clavers, the Despot's Champion PDF Author: Southern
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 358

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Book Description


The Dialogue in Hell Between Machiavelli and Montesquieu

The Dialogue in Hell Between Machiavelli and Montesquieu PDF Author: Maurice Joly
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 9780739106990
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 426

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Book Description
Joly's (1831-78) Dialogue aux enfers entre Machiavel et Montesquieu is the major source of one of the world's most infamous and damaging forgeries, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. That, however, was concocted some two decades after he died, and American political scientist Waggoner points to Joly's own text for evidence that he was not anti-semitic and was an intransigent enemy of the kind of tyranny the forgery served during the 1930s. He translates the text and discusses Joly's intentions in writing it and his contribution to the understanding of modern politics. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.

Meanings and Functions of the Ruler's Image in the Mediterranean World (11th – 15th Centuries)

Meanings and Functions of the Ruler's Image in the Mediterranean World (11th – 15th Centuries) PDF Author:
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 900451158X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 574

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Book Description
(The open access version of this book has been published with the support of the Swiss National Science Foundation.) The book proposes a reassessment of royal portraiture and its function in the Middle Ages via a comparative analysis of works from different areas of the Mediterranean world, where images are seen as only one outcome of wider and multifarious strategies for the public mise-en-scène of the rulers’ bodies. Its emphasis is on the ways in which medieval monarchs in different areas of the Mediterranean constructed their outward appearance and communicated it by means of a variety of rituals, object-types, and media. Contributors are Michele Bacci, Nicolas Bock, Gerardo Boto Varela, Branislav Cvetković, Sofia Fernández Pozzo, Gohar Grigoryan Savary, Elodie Leschot, Vinni Lucherini, Ioanna Rapti, Juan Carlos Ruiz Souza, Marta Serrano-Coll, Lucinia Speciale, Manuela Studer-Karlen, Mirko Vagnoni, and Edda Vardanyan.