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Editorial Reviews
Book Description
Dismantling Tyranny offers a rigorous set of case studies of seven formerly communist-ruled countries and how they resolved the dismantling of their respective secret police organizations. Each country profiled had a unique experience: e.g., the Russian experience of cosmetic transformation, the Czech Republic's model of political screening (de jure lustration), Estonia's model of absolute screening (de facto lustration), and Nicaragua's complete replacement of one loyal totalitarian system with another. Published in cooperation with the American Foreign Policy Council. Visit our website for sample chapters!
Product Details
* Paperback: 192 pages
* Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. (December 28, 2005)
* Language: English
* ISBN-10: 0742549038
* ISBN-13: 978-0742549036
* Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.8 x 0.6 inches
An Amazing Read!, | By | Eric Wind (USA) |
As an ardent supporter of the American Foreign Policy Council (the organization that cooperated in publishing the text) and an enthusiastic admirer of Ilan Berman, I could not wait to read "Dismantling Tyranny" when I heard about its release. I love the book and feel that it is one of the most versatile compilations of case studies I have read. Ilan Berman, J. Michael Waller, Jaroslav Basta, John O. Koehler, Aadu Oll, Tomas Skucas, and Andrzej Grajewski all did excellent work in their creation of the book. The Preface by Fredo Arias-King is an amazingly simple and concise guide for those wishing to dismantle a totalitarian political police structure. It puts the reader in the correct mindset for reading the rest of the book.
My hope is that readers who may possess a preconceived notion of the work do not overlook this artfully crafted work. It would fit in well as a supplemental text in any university course and I hope many within academia choose to read it. At the same time, the reader does not have to have a set of knowledge and facts before they begin reading it. Anyone can read it for pure pleasure, like I did, as well. The writing is very accessible and it can quickly enthrall the reader. I personally finished the book in a weekend, which tells you how much I liked it, since I am a Georgetown University student that had a lot of homework at the time, yet I could not put the book down.
I can envision the work being put to use in a wide variety of university courses. The work could be used in a variety of departments, including history, government, international affairs, and even sociology. However, the possibilities are nearly endless. "Dismantling Tyranny" could be used in the historical and political study of the Cold War and the effects of the Soviet collapse in satellite nations that were under Soviet influence and control. The case studies could be separated and a class could use one by itself as a specific supplement for a course related to a particular country. This book should be read by those within the governmental field that deal with international relations, as it may give them a better context to view the countries studied and help to understand how the totalitarian political police structure needs to be dismantled for a move towards democracy. In Ilan Berman's conclusion of the work, he even makes an oblique yet relevant allusion to the current situation in Iraq and how dealing with the remains of the Ba'ath Party, the party totalitarian police structure under Saddam, is a necessity if democracy and an effective government are both going to be achieved.
The first case study in "Dismantling Tyranny" is Russia by J. Michael Waller. His essay is fantastic with extensive citation and a very thorough history in a small amount of pages. This essay should be required reading for any young person under 20 with interest in international affairs. As a young Georgetown student, as I was growing I did not have the mental faculties to truly understand the political dynamic of Russia, though I do have a slight recollection of the Berlin Wall falling. Waller offers a great analysis of current Cheka influences in Russia. It gave me a new and different perspective of the current situation in Russia. Waller's essay is the perfect start to the book, as many of the following case studies relate to the Soviet Union and its collapse.
A work on the Czech Republic by Jaroslav Basta follows and shows the success of lustration in the Czech Republic. The work ends with an interesting quote from Stratfor.com, but that is the only citation for the entire work. The citation is excellent, however as it gave me a context to view relationship of NATO the Czech Republic which was admitted to the organization in March of 1999. The golden aspect of Basta's work is his conclusion called "LESSONS FOR THE FUTURE" that is a succinct summary of what we can learn from the Czech actions and how it can be applied to other countries facing a removal of totalitarian aspects.
John O. Koehler's work on East Germany is an amazing text that taught me as so much about the post World War II situation and how the Soviets manipulated East Germany. This study is more along the lines of history with a very extensive explanation of the situation. The work is extremely well written and helps brings past events to the modern age. I never realized the power and terror of Stasi, the East German Secret police, which among its deed harbored terrorists such as Carlos the Jackal and Abu Daoud (mastermind of 1972 Munich Olympic games massacre). It also leaves the reader with an intriguing ending exploring the role of modern communism. It is a brilliant way to end to the essay that leaves the reader intrigued. As an added boon, this work has an extensive Notes section.
Aadu Oll writes about Estonia's relationship to the KGB after the fall of the Soviet Union. As is mentioned in the Introduction by Ilan Berman and J. Michael Waller, the movement away from the KGB was a "de facto model of lustration" where those in authority fired anyone with ties to the KGB. Oll provides a very good historical context in his article and offers some interesting facts such as the fact that Estonians speak a language under a different linguistic system than Slavonic, which made it extremely difficult for Estonians to learn Russian, and "In fact, many Estonians were unable to master the language during the entire fifty years of Soviet occupation." Another interesting fact is that 25 percent of the country is Russian, which went to Estonia to reinforce Soviet power. Estonia faces the problem of assimilating them into Estonian culture and politics. Oll certainly is very knowledgeable about the subject, but unfortunately, there is not a Notes section to help those studying the subject to find more resources.
The work on Lithuania by Tomas Skucas is wonderful. Skucas does an excellent job in providing the historical aspects of the situation regarding the Nazi Germany invasion of Lithuania and the mass murder of 85 percent of Jews in Lithuania. After the war ended, the Soviet Union implemented a massive system of deportation of hundreds of thousands of natives. Shortly thereafter, the KGB began having a large influence Lithuania. It is still feared and blamed for many problems, but in reality, the KGB probably had no relation to most of the occurrences. Like many of the former Soviet-controlled states, the government of Lithuania had problems protecting sensitive documents after the transition.This work features a nice Notes section.
Waller's second country sketch is on Nicaragua. This case study is in a completely different hemisphere, but Waller does a great job linking it to the generalities of a totalitarian political police structure that are found in the other essays. It is extremely interesting how the Ministry of the Interior (MINT) tried to undermine the Catholic Church and evangelical Christian churches. The overlap with Stasi was also extremely interesting, especially since Stasi is covered in so much detail in Koehler's case study of East Germany. Waller does excel in provided a concise description of the tools the Sandinistas used to help them gain power, such as their torture techniques and how they would have illegal items placed in the houses of opponents to allow them to be arrested. Like his essay on Russia, Waller has an incredible knack for allowing the reader to get an uncanny sense of the characters involved in the situation in only a few words. The inability of Chamorro to hold control over the Sandinistas provides a great example of what not to do when wanting to dismantle the machinery of a totalitarian regime. The Sandinistas harbored terrorists from around the world and were linked to the World Trade Center bombing in 1993. This is well-researched and uses personal interviews among his wide list of sources.
The last case study in the book is by Andrzej Grajewski and focuses on Poland. This was not as easy to read as it had a plethora of acronyms (18 to be exact). The list that defines each acronym is at the end of the work, just before the Notes section. Poland had a unique political situation from many of the other countries in "Dismantling Tyranny" yet it had a similar problem with securing its archives.
Overall, "Dismantling Tyranny" is an engaging well-researched and high-quality intellectual work. Everyone affiliated with the project must have striven to put forth their best effort, as it came out to be a beautiful work. The first sentence of the Acknowledgments section is very telling as it states, "In many ways, this book has been a labor of love." If people truly love and care about something, they make sure that it is done well and to the best of their ability. I imagine that people will find this project to be useful for decades to come. "Dismantling Tyranny" is truly a must-read.
My hope is that readers who may possess a preconceived notion of the work do not overlook this artfully crafted work. It would fit in well as a supplemental text in any university course and I hope many within academia choose to read it. At the same time, the reader does not have to have a set of knowledge and facts before they begin reading it. Anyone can read it for pure pleasure, like I did, as well. The writing is very accessible and it can quickly enthrall the reader. I personally finished the book in a weekend, which tells you how much I liked it, since I am a Georgetown University student that had a lot of homework at the time, yet I could not put the book down.
I can envision the work being put to use in a wide variety of university courses. The work could be used in a variety of departments, including history, government, international affairs, and even sociology. However, the possibilities are nearly endless. "Dismantling Tyranny" could be used in the historical and political study of the Cold War and the effects of the Soviet collapse in satellite nations that were under Soviet influence and control. The case studies could be separated and a class could use one by itself as a specific supplement for a course related to a particular country. This book should be read by those within the governmental field that deal with international relations, as it may give them a better context to view the countries studied and help to understand how the totalitarian political police structure needs to be dismantled for a move towards democracy. In Ilan Berman's conclusion of the work, he even makes an oblique yet relevant allusion to the current situation in Iraq and how dealing with the remains of the Ba'ath Party, the party totalitarian police structure under Saddam, is a necessity if democracy and an effective government are both going to be achieved.
The first case study in "Dismantling Tyranny" is Russia by J. Michael Waller. His essay is fantastic with extensive citation and a very thorough history in a small amount of pages. This essay should be required reading for any young person under 20 with interest in international affairs. As a young Georgetown student, as I was growing I did not have the mental faculties to truly understand the political dynamic of Russia, though I do have a slight recollection of the Berlin Wall falling. Waller offers a great analysis of current Cheka influences in Russia. It gave me a new and different perspective of the current situation in Russia. Waller's essay is the perfect start to the book, as many of the following case studies relate to the Soviet Union and its collapse.
A work on the Czech Republic by Jaroslav Basta follows and shows the success of lustration in the Czech Republic. The work ends with an interesting quote from Stratfor.com, but that is the only citation for the entire work. The citation is excellent, however as it gave me a context to view relationship of NATO the Czech Republic which was admitted to the organization in March of 1999. The golden aspect of Basta's work is his conclusion called "LESSONS FOR THE FUTURE" that is a succinct summary of what we can learn from the Czech actions and how it can be applied to other countries facing a removal of totalitarian aspects.
John O. Koehler's work on East Germany is an amazing text that taught me as so much about the post World War II situation and how the Soviets manipulated East Germany. This study is more along the lines of history with a very extensive explanation of the situation. The work is extremely well written and helps brings past events to the modern age. I never realized the power and terror of Stasi, the East German Secret police, which among its deed harbored terrorists such as Carlos the Jackal and Abu Daoud (mastermind of 1972 Munich Olympic games massacre). It also leaves the reader with an intriguing ending exploring the role of modern communism. It is a brilliant way to end to the essay that leaves the reader intrigued. As an added boon, this work has an extensive Notes section.
Aadu Oll writes about Estonia's relationship to the KGB after the fall of the Soviet Union. As is mentioned in the Introduction by Ilan Berman and J. Michael Waller, the movement away from the KGB was a "de facto model of lustration" where those in authority fired anyone with ties to the KGB. Oll provides a very good historical context in his article and offers some interesting facts such as the fact that Estonians speak a language under a different linguistic system than Slavonic, which made it extremely difficult for Estonians to learn Russian, and "In fact, many Estonians were unable to master the language during the entire fifty years of Soviet occupation." Another interesting fact is that 25 percent of the country is Russian, which went to Estonia to reinforce Soviet power. Estonia faces the problem of assimilating them into Estonian culture and politics. Oll certainly is very knowledgeable about the subject, but unfortunately, there is not a Notes section to help those studying the subject to find more resources.
The work on Lithuania by Tomas Skucas is wonderful. Skucas does an excellent job in providing the historical aspects of the situation regarding the Nazi Germany invasion of Lithuania and the mass murder of 85 percent of Jews in Lithuania. After the war ended, the Soviet Union implemented a massive system of deportation of hundreds of thousands of natives. Shortly thereafter, the KGB began having a large influence Lithuania. It is still feared and blamed for many problems, but in reality, the KGB probably had no relation to most of the occurrences. Like many of the former Soviet-controlled states, the government of Lithuania had problems protecting sensitive documents after the transition.This work features a nice Notes section.
Waller's second country sketch is on Nicaragua. This case study is in a completely different hemisphere, but Waller does a great job linking it to the generalities of a totalitarian political police structure that are found in the other essays. It is extremely interesting how the Ministry of the Interior (MINT) tried to undermine the Catholic Church and evangelical Christian churches. The overlap with Stasi was also extremely interesting, especially since Stasi is covered in so much detail in Koehler's case study of East Germany. Waller does excel in provided a concise description of the tools the Sandinistas used to help them gain power, such as their torture techniques and how they would have illegal items placed in the houses of opponents to allow them to be arrested. Like his essay on Russia, Waller has an incredible knack for allowing the reader to get an uncanny sense of the characters involved in the situation in only a few words. The inability of Chamorro to hold control over the Sandinistas provides a great example of what not to do when wanting to dismantle the machinery of a totalitarian regime. The Sandinistas harbored terrorists from around the world and were linked to the World Trade Center bombing in 1993. This is well-researched and uses personal interviews among his wide list of sources.
The last case study in the book is by Andrzej Grajewski and focuses on Poland. This was not as easy to read as it had a plethora of acronyms (18 to be exact). The list that defines each acronym is at the end of the work, just before the Notes section. Poland had a unique political situation from many of the other countries in "Dismantling Tyranny" yet it had a similar problem with securing its archives.
Overall, "Dismantling Tyranny" is an engaging well-researched and high-quality intellectual work. Everyone affiliated with the project must have striven to put forth their best effort, as it came out to be a beautiful work. The first sentence of the Acknowledgments section is very telling as it states, "In many ways, this book has been a labor of love." If people truly love and care about something, they make sure that it is done well and to the best of their ability. I imagine that people will find this project to be useful for decades to come. "Dismantling Tyranny" is truly a must-read.
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