Modern Dictators: Third World Coupmakers, Strongmen, and Populist Tyrants
This book represents an attempt to develop a theory of how dictatorship has developed in modern times and the different varieties of dictatorial regime present in the worked, especially in the Third World. The main theme is the evolution of dictatorship from “traditional” forms--which were only concerned with the monopolization of power largely through repression--and the “modern dictator” who mobilized mass support and a carefully organized base of loyalists. This evolution owed a great deal to borrowings from communist and fascist systems in Europe. The book considers distinctions between different dictatorships in Africa, the Middle East and South America (with some consideration of Asia). It analyzes how such instruments as repression, ideology, political parties, mass organizations, and corruption have evolved in their role as tools for maintaining regimes.
Barry Rubin's study of modern dictatorships in the Third World is redolent of the analytical approach of James Burnham, and though Burnham is not mentioned by name, his principal mentor, Niccolo Machiavelli, is frequently cited. Mr. Rubin is coolly dispassionate in his dissection of the anatomy of contemporary tyranny, attentive to the social forces that underlie and perpetuate it, and pessimistic in his estimate of its future. His conclusions should be carefully studied, for they challenge many of the preconceptions on which most conservatives' (as well as liberals') ideas of Third World politics are based.
Mr. Rubin begins with a distinction between "traditional' and "modern' dictatorships that roughly corresponds to the familiar one between "authoritarian' and "totalitarian' regimes. The former "were conservers and manipulators of the existing order, more concerned with redividing the wealth to their advantage than in making social or political change, even when they favored economic development.' Traditional dictators like the Shah of Iran, Anastasio Somoza, and Ferdinand Marcos neglected to build a mass political base and instead relied on personal followings drawn from established elites. While their rule was generally harsh and corrupt, it lacked the ruthlessness and efficiency that a more total and impersonal mobilization of power can construct. Hence, traditional dictators often fail to transmit their personally based rule to successors and are ineffective against modern political opposition movements.
Such names as Khomeiny, Qaddafi, and Castro are more widely known today than those of the leaders of vastly more powerful nations such as Japan or Germany and international news is dominated as much by these and other dictators as it is by superpower relations. This incisive book details the rise of one-party rule after 1945 and examines various dictatorial styles in the Third World. Rubin's cool analysis of these despots, their effect on the U.N., and the ambivalence the United States toward them is completed by a useful bibliography. This "behind the headlines" study is recommended for both academic and public libraries.
"Rubin sees both Third world rulers and Western policies toward them with a keen and critical eye, and his text is refreshingly free of jargon."
"Timely… A welcome addition to studies in comparative politics."
"Raises interesting and important questions...Clear-eyed and unsentimental, a useful guide to third world absolutism."