Table of Contents

1. Introduction: The Cost of Despotism 2. Traditional Societies 3. Despotic Regimes 4. Modus Operandi of Repressive Regimes 5. The Demise of a Brutal Regime 6. Stirrings for Freedom 7. The Strategy 8. How the West Can Help 9. Epilogue and Conclusion Bibliography Index

About the Author

George Ayittey is one of today's foremost experts on Africa and author of Africa Unchained, Africa in Chaos, and Africa Betrayed. He was named one of Foreign Policy's Top Global Thinkers in 2009 and is an advisor to the Obama administration on forging a new path for Africa. Ayittey has written for The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and The Times of London, among others, and has appeared on such media as ABC Nightline, PBS NewsHour, and CNN. He is also the founder and president of the Free Africa Foundation. The originator of the term, Cheetah Generation, Ayittey hails from Ghana, where former President John Kufuor described Ayittey as "one of the architects of democratic change" in 2000. He lives in Lorton, Virginia.

Reviews

"[Ayittey's] forthright language, lucid analyses, and pragmatic attitude make this a compelling and timely challenge to the despotism-as-usual status quo." --Publishers Weekly "As George Ayittey, Obama adviser and veteran Africa author and analyst, knows too well...there is far more to ousting dictators than convening a crowd, as in Tahrir Square...There are few greater experts in the nature of and flaws of tyranny [than Ayittey]. His record in opposing authoritarian misrule in his native Ghana is unimpeachable....All those labouring under authoritarian systems that seem invulnerable, from Zimbabwe to Jordan and even maybe China, should heed Ayittey's strictures. So should their rulers. So too should western officials tempted to water down their principles when working in illiberal regimes." --Alec Russell, Financial Times