Novels on Authoritarian Rule

We now understand more than we ever have about what makes authoritarian regimes work: their emergence, persistence, and demise; their manifold consequences for economies and societies. But social science has less to say about the lived experience of dictatorship and backsliding from democratic rule. Novels attune us to the slippery psychological and emotional dimensions of authoritarian rule. But they also do much more.

In this series of blog posts, Stephan Haggard, IGCC research director for Democracy and Global Governance, and Matthew Draper (Dickinson College) review novels and non-fiction work on authoritarian rule. Many of these novels are written by the subjects of authoritarian regimes—often published abroad—and seek to bear witness. Others are written by anxious citizens of democracies fearing—or sensing—the loss of liberties. Still others are futuristic and dystopian. These novels deepen our understanding of this shockingly persistent form of political rule.