A New Yorker Best Book of the YearA Foreign Affairs Best Book of the YearAn Atlantic Best Book
of the YearA Financial Times Best Politics Book of the YearHow a new breed of dictators holds
power by manipulating information and faking democracy Hitler Stalin and Mao ruled through
violence fear and ideology. But in recent decades a new breed of media-savvy strongmen has
been redesigning authoritarian rule for a more sophisticated globally connected world. In
place of overt mass repression rulers such as Vladimir Putin Recep Tayyip Erdogan and
Viktor Orbán control their citizens by distorting information and simulating democratic
procedures. Like spin doctors in democracies they spin the news to engineer support.
Uncovering this new brand of authoritarianism Sergei Guriev and Daniel Treisman explain the
rise of such spin dictators ” describing how they emerge and operate the new threats they pose
and how democracies should respond. Spin Dictators traces how leaders such as Singapore’s Lee
Kuan Yew and Peru’s Alberto Fujimori pioneered less violent more covert and more effective
methods of monopolizing power. They cultivated an image of competence concealed censorship
and used democratic institutions to undermine democracy all while increasing international
engagement for financial and reputational benefits. The book reveals why most of today’s
authoritarians are spin dictators—and how they differ from the remaining fear dictators” such
as Kim Jong-un and Bashar al-Assad as well as from masters of high-tech repression like Xi
Jinping. Offering incisive portraits of today’s authoritarian leaders Spin Dictators explains
some of the great political puzzles of our time—from how dictators can survive in an age of
growing modernity to the disturbing convergence and mutual sympathy between dictators and
populists like Donald Trump.
