The study of dictatorship in the West has acquired an almost exotic dimension. But
authoritarian regimes remain a painful reality for billions of people worldwide who still live
under them their freedoms violated and their rights abused. They are subject to arbitrary
arrest torture corruption ignorance and injustice. What is the nature of dictatorship? How
does it take hold? In what conditions and circumstances is it permitted to thrive? And how do
dictators retain power even when reviled and mocked by those they govern? In this deeply
considered and at times provocative short work Alaa Al Aswany tells us that as with any
disease to understand the syndrome of dictatorship we must first consider the circumstances of
its emergence along with the symptoms and complications it causes in both the people and the
dictator.
