Defeating Dictators: Fighting Tyranny in Africa and Around the World

摘要

Authoritarian police states have become more numerous and more repressive over the last five years, according to George B.N. Ayittey, founder and president of the Free Africa Foundation, in Defeating Dictators. This has occurred despite countless diplomatic outreaches, punitive sanctions, and financial incentives deployed by Western governments in an attempt to persuade dictatorships to respect human rights. The democratic world's dictator outreach is not working, Ayittey argues. Most dictators are set in their autocratic ways and will not be won over by pleas or reprimands from foreign diplomats. If democratic governments really want to help the peoples of autocratic nations attain more freedom, Ayittey states, they must shift their focus from engaging dictators to assisting opposition movements.