One theme that has emerged from the recent literature on political economy concerns the transition to democracy: why would dominant elites give up oligarchic power? This book addresses the fundamental question of democratic stability and the collapse of tyranny by considering a formal model of democracy and tyranny. The formal model is used to study elections in developed polities such as the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Canada, and Israel, as well as complex developing polities such as Turkey. The key idea is that activist groups may offer resources to political candidates if they in turn adjust their polities in favor of the interest group. In polities that use a "first past the post" electoral system, such as the US, the bargaining between interest groups and candidates creates a tendency for activist groups to coalesce; in polities such as Israel and the Netherlands, where the electoral system is very proportional, there may be little tendency for activist coalescence. A further feature of the model is that candidates, or political leaders, like Barack Obama, with high intrinsic charisma, or valence, will be attracted to the electoral center, while less charismatic leaders will move to the electoral periphery. This aspect of the model is used to compare the position taking and exercise of power of authoritarian leaders in Portugal, Argentina and the Soviet Union. The final chapter of the book suggests that the chaos that may be induced by climate change and rapid population growth can only be addressed by concerted action directed by a charismatic leader of the Atlantic democracies.

Hay razones para pensar que llega una cuarta ola de democratización. En la actualidad existen más democracias en el mundo que en ningún periodo anterior. Desde el año 1991, nada menos que cuarenta Estados han emprendido la transición hacia la democracia. La existencia de naciones en vías de democratización o de redemocratización, como los esfuerzos para crear constituciones supraestatales -es el caso de la Unión Europea-, hacen imprescindible avanzar hacia un mejor conocimiento de los procedimientos legislativos y los modelos alternativos de constitución política. La división histórica de las ciencias políticas en distintos campos de estudio ha sesgado el enfoque adoptado por economistas y politólogos sobre numerosos temas y ha supuesto limitaciones artificiales para el análisis de muchas cuestiones sociales relevantes. De ahí la importancia innegable de un estudio unificado de la economía política que explore las fronteras de la interacción entre política y economía. La caracterización de la economía política como síntesis de diversos campos suscitará controversia, a la vez que abre una línea de investigación muy estimulante para elucidar nuestra comprensión sobre las democracias.Este libro recoge los resultados del seminario "La economía política de la democracia", celebrado en Barcelona entre los días 5 y 7 de junio de 2008 con el apoyo de la Fundación BBVA. En él se dieron cita líderes intelectuales en economía y ciencias políticas con el fin de desarrollar planteamientos equilibrados sobre temas comunes de análisis, tales como las estrategias preelectorales, las elecciones, la formación de coaliciones y las prácticas de gobierno, dentro de un único marco integrador. Se prestó una especial atención a campos actuales de desarrollo, entres ellos, la entrada endógena de candidatos, los comportamientos de políticos y votantes, negociaciones y acuerdos, y regímenes políticos.

Although much of the world still lives today, as always, under dictatorship, the behaviour of these regimes and of their leaders often appears irrational and mysterious. In The Political Economy of Dictatorship, Ronald Wintrobe uses rational choice theory to model dictatorships: their strategies for accumulating power, the constraints on their behavior, and why they are often more popular than is commonly accepted. The book explores both the politics and the economics of dictatorships, and the interaction between them. The questions addressed include: What determines the repressiveness of a regime? Can political authoritarianism be 'good' for the economy? After the fall, who should be held responsible for crimes against human rights? The book contains many applications, including chapters on Nazi Germany, Soviet Communism, South Africa under apartheid, the ancient Roman Empire and Pinochet's Chile. It also provides a guide to the policies which should be followed by the democracies towards dictatorships.

Post-conflict reconstruction is one of the most pressing political issues today. This book uses economics to analyze critically the incentives and constraints faced by various actors involved in reconstruction efforts. Through this analysis, the book will aid in understanding why some reconstructions are more successful than others.

"Tyranny Unmasked" by John Taylor of Caroline. Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each Good Press edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to produce eBooks that are user-friendly and accessible to everyone in a high-quality digital format.

Since the global financial crisis of 2008, advanced economies have been making various efforts to overcome the economic impasse. While the contrast between the countries that have escaped from the crisis relatively quickly and those still suffering from serious problems is becoming clearer, a new economic crisis stemming from newly emerging economies has again impacted advanced economies. In retrospect, both leftist and rightist governments in advanced economies pursued expansive macroeconomic and welfare policies from the post-WWII period to the oil shocks of the 1970s. While we recognise that the particular policy regime in this ‘Golden Decades’ during which the left and the right implemented similar policies cross-nationally, were characterised by outstanding economic growth in each country, the specific growth patterns varied across countries. Different social coalitions underpinned different growth models. This book is premised on tentative conclusions that Magara and her research collaborators have reached as a result of three years of study related to our previous project on economic crises and policy regimes. Recognising the need to analyse fluid and unstable situations, we have set up a new research design in which we emphasise political variables—whether political leaders and citizens can overcome the various weaknesses inherent in democracy and escape from an economic crisis by establishing an effective social coalition. A new policy regime can be stable only if it is supported by a sufficiently large coalition of social groups whose most important policy demands are satisfied within the new policy regime.