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.

Multimillion-copy, bestselling author of The Yacoubian Building, Alaa Al-Aswany reflects on the nature of dictatorship, how it takes hold, and how it survives; Alaa Al-Aswany currently writes opinion pieces for the Guardian, New York Times and Deutsche Welle Arabic; A renowned novelist, Al Aswany has lived and worked under successive dictatorships in Egypt; Al Aswany has over 3.2 million followers on Twitter and is one of the foremost thinkers writing on Egypt and wider Middle East.

About the Author
Alaa Al Aswany's The Yacoubian Building was longlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award (IMPAC) in 2006 and has sold over a million copies worldwide. His work has been translated into twenty-nine languages and published in over a hundred countries. Al Aswany was named by The Times as one of the fifty best authors to have been translated into English in the last fifty years.


Book Information
ISBN 9781912208593
Author Alaa Al Aswany
Format Hardback
Page Count 160
Imprint Haus Publishing
Publisher Haus Publishing