Tyranny: A New Interpretation

Waller R. Newell

05/2013 · Cambridge University Press

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This is the first comprehensive exploration of ancient and modern tyranny in the history of political thought. Waller R. Newell argues that modern tyranny and statecraft differ fundamentally from the classical understanding. Newell demonstrates a historical shift in emphasis from the classical thinkers' stress on the virtuous character of rulers and the need for civic education to the modern emphasis on impersonal institutions and cold-blooded political method. By diagnosing the varieties of tyranny from erotic voluptuaries like Nero, the steely determination of reforming conquerors like Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar and modernizing despots such as Napoleon and Ataturk to the collectivist revolutions of the Jacobins, Bolsheviks, Nazis and Khmer Rouge, Newell shows how tyranny is every bit as dangerous to free democratic societies today as it was in the past.

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Waller R. Newell is Professor of Political Science and Philosophy at Carleton University. He is the author of The Soul of a Leader: Character, Conviction, and Ten Lessons in Political Greatness (2009), The Code of Man: Love, Courage, Pride, Family, Country (2003) and Ruling Passion: The Erotics of Statecraft in Platonic Political Philosophy (2000).