From Kim Jong-un to Bashar al-Assad, authoritarian rulers resort to tried-and-tested techniques to crush opposition, undermine civil society and erode democratic rights. As authors Sarah Kendzior and Andrea Chalupa and artist Kasia Babis explain in their new graphic non-fiction satire, Dictatorship: It’s Easier Than You Think!: ‘Dictators don’t come to power in a vacuum’. In the excerpt on the following pages, they reveal how demagogues deploy symbols, slogans and personal branding to increase their grip on power.
‘Dictatorship: It’s Easier Than You Think!’, First Second Books, £19.99
The dictators’ playbook
An extract from the graphic non-fiction satire, ‘Dictatorship: It’s Easier Than You Think!’
