Summary:
The authors propose that the power structure any entity (corporation or government) is defined by three core population groups:
1) The Nominal Selectorate (“The Interchangeables”) — the pool of all potential supporters
2) The Real Selectorate (“The Influentials”) — the supporters who actually choose the leader
3) The Winning Coalition (“The Essentials”) — the key people who keep the leader in power
Leaders remain in power by keeping The Winning Coalition happy. The relative sizes of each of the three groups above dictate how the leader governs.
The authors offer a checklist of 5 simple rules that any reader can follow should they wish to win anything from becoming a boss to gaining military control of Zimbabwe. (Is it any surprise then that it precisely mirrors the Trump administration's behavior:)
Rule 1: Keep the winning coalition as small as possible.
Leaders should rely on as few people as possible to stay in power. Fewer "essentials" mean more control and greater discretion over how money is spent
Rule 2: Keep the nominal selectorate as large as possible.— to make it easy to replace any troublemakers in the coalition.
Rule 3: Control the flow of revenue.
It’s always better for a ruler to determine who eats than it is to have a larger pie from which the people can feed themselves.
Rule 4: Pay key supporters just enough to keep them loyal. Any leader must give the coalition just enough so that it doesn’t shop around for someone to replace him or her, but not a penny more.
Rule 5: Never take money from supporters to make the people’s lives better. Hungry people will be too worried about surviving to fight, But underpaid supporters can defect.
quotes from
The Dictator's Handbook:
Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics
"...candidates who aren’t willing to cheat are typically beaten by those who are."
"Steal from the poor, give to the rich"
"corruption is a private good of choice- it provides the means to ensure regime loyalty without having to pay good salaries.
"All politicians are alike; how they are constrained differs."
“Paying supporters, not good governance or representing the general will, is the essence of ruling. Buying loyalty is particularly difficult”
“It’s always better for a ruler to determine who eats than it is to have a larger pie from which the people can feed themselves.”
“leaders must reward their coalition of essential backers before they reward the people in general and even before they reward themselves”
“legal approaches to eliminating corruption won’t ever work...”
Both Trump and Maduro:
http://foreignpolicy.com/…/a-dictators-handbook-for-the-pr…/
"All politicians are alike; how they are constrained differs."
“Paying supporters, not good governance or representing the general will, is the essence of ruling. Buying loyalty is particularly difficult”
“It’s always better for a ruler to determine who eats than it is to have a larger pie from which the people can feed themselves.”
“leaders must reward their coalition of essential backers before they reward the people in general and even before they reward themselves”
“legal approaches to eliminating corruption won’t ever work...”
Both Trump and Maduro:
1. Try to discredit Media by calling it "Fake News"
2. Both kicked out CNN for their coverage
3. Both fired Prosecutors (Comey in US and Ortega in VZ) for not dropping investigations of corruption.
4. Both want all opposition Prosecuted
5. Both say almost word for word the same thing about immigrants:"Who comes over from Colombia/Mexico? People practically w/o education they're not sending their best"
http://foreignpolicy.com/…/a-dictators-handbook-for-the-pr…/
