Modern Tyrants

Chirot's classification scheme for understanding modern tyrannies makes this survey a valuable sourcebook on dictatorships. At one extreme, he finds ``ideologically driven'' tyrannies like those of Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot of Cambodia and slain Romanian Communist Nicolae Ceausescu. At the other pole are ``old-fashioned'' tyrannies, rooted in corruption, wanton brutality and extreme concentration of power, such as Idi Amin's Uganda. A political science professor at Northwestern University, Chirot argues that the volatile mix of angry and resentful nationalisms, combined with economic misery and a lack of democratic traditions, are a recipe for tyranny. He maintains that intellectuals who espouse extremist social theories often sow the seeds of absolutism, citing as examples the fundamentalist Muslim revival, the militaristic authoritarianism of Croatia and Serbia and Peru's Shining Path guerrillas. This is a disquieting and ominous road map of the 20th century's political horrors. (Feb.)