Despite talk of the 'triumph of democracy', much of the world is still ruled by political or military dictatorships. In this fully revised and updated third edition, Paul Brooker provides a comprehensive assessment of the nature and evolving character of authoritarian regimes, their changing character and the main theoretical explanations of their incidence, character and performance. The third edition includes substantial new coverage of the rise of new forms of disguised dictatorship and semi-competitive democracy in the 21st Century.
