When a totalitarian group seizes power, one of the first institutions it creates is a secret political police. Since the birth of modern totalitarianism, in country after country, secret political police have been the predominant instruments of power, used to consolidate power, neutralize the opposition, and erect a one-party state. Yet, when these same totalitarian regimes have liberalized or collapsed, the secret political police have often managed to survive and even remain relevant. Dismantling Tyranny: Transitioning Beyond Totalitarian Regimes provides a groundbreaking exploration of this survival tendency in seven formerly communist regimes in the former Soviet Union and Latin America - and the lessons these transformations hold for future democratic revolutions. But Dismantling Tyranny is also much more: it is a guidebook designed to empower, inform, and guide future transitions toward democracy for those political leaders with the initiative, and courage, to embark upon such a visionary path. Published in cooperation with the American Foreign Policy Council.

Dismantling Tyranny: Transitioning Beyond Totalitarian Regimes

Politics & Social Sciences

Berman, Ilan

Waller, J. Michael

Politics & Government

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

When a totalitarian group seizes power, one of the first institutions it creates is a secret political police. Since the birth of modern totalitarianism, in country after country, secret political police have been the predominant instruments of power, used to consolidate power, neutralize the opposition, and erect a one-party state. Yet, when these same totalitarian regimes have liberalized or collapsed, the secret political police have often managed to survive and even remain relevant. Dismantling Tyranny: Transitioning Beyond Totalitarian Regimes provides a groundbreaking exploration of this survival tendency in seven formerly communist regimes in the former Soviet Union and Latin America - and the lessons these transformations hold for future democratic revolutions. But Dismantling Tyranny is also much more: it is a guidebook designed to empower, inform, and guide future transitions toward democracy for those political leaders with the initiative, and courage, to embark upon such a visionary path. Published in cooperation with the American Foreign Policy Council.

Criminal Law

Tehran Rising: Iran's Challenge to the United States

The Islamic Republic of Iran today constitutes the single greatest challenge to the United States and the War on Terror. In the Persian Gulf and Central Asia, Iranian policymakers are busy cobbling together alliances intended to elevate it to the status of a regional superpower at the expense of the U.S. and its European allies. In Iraq, Iran is spending millions to perpetuate a lingering insurgency that threatens to transform the former Ba'athist state into another Islamic Republic. Iran remains the world's most active sponsor of terrorism, fueling the activities of Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah and al-Qaeda. And through its nuclear advances, mature chemical- and biological weapons programs, and an expanding conventional military, Iran is gaining the capability to catastrophically alter the balance of power far beyond its immediate neighborhood. All of this has been guided by an ambitious strategic agenda that is designed to make the Iranian regime the center of gravity in the post-Saddam Middle East. As evidence of this threat mounts, one thing remains crystal clear to Ilan Berman: 'Washington is woefully unprepared to deal with this mounting peril.' Berman's approach is hard-hitting, provocative and unflinchingly critical. But he takes the exploration of Iran's menace one step further, providing what has been missing so far in the foreign policy discourse regarding Iran, both within the U.S. government and outside it_practical policy prescriptions designed to contain Iran's strategic ambitions.

Reference

Winning the Long War is a trenchant examination of the past seven years of the Global War on Terror, the future battlegrounds that will confront the United States in the struggle against radical Islam in the years ahead, and how America can reclaim the initiative in what has become the defining struggle of the twenty-first century. Middle East expert Ilan Berman offers new thinking on counterterrorism strategy and provides the new administration with ways to close the gaps in current American counterterrorism strategy. While there are many books about fighting terrorism, none offer Berman's approach of integrating diplomatic, legal, economic, military, and theoretical strategies into a comprehensive national security action plan. Using cutting edge analysis of current terrorism trends, Winning the Long War identifies three central failings that triggered the West's retreat and radical Islam's simultaneous advance: the failure to properly define the enemy, the inability to dominate the battlefields, and the inability to calibrate counterterrorism strategies. Demonstrating the need for more creative thinking about the nature of the conflicts in which the West now finds itself, this book lays out the steps that must be taken to win the long war.

Winning the Long War: Retaking the Offensive against Radical Islam

Religion & Spirituality

Islam

Nearly 20 years after its inception, U.S.-Israel strategic cooperation is a partnership in transition. Forged by common interests and shared security concerns, it has become one of the most vital components of the larger 'special relationship' between Jerusalem and Washington. At the same time, today's strategic cooperation bears little semblance to the system of military and defense-industrial interaction established during the Reagan years. With the end of the Cold War, the strategic relationship has changed dramatically. Responding to global changes, new areas of cooperation have been discovered and traditional projects epanded. At the same time, foreign policy issues have begun to constrain the strategic dialogue in unprecedented ways. Partnership in Transition is a timely examination of this changing relationship. It chronicles the evolution of strategic ties, from Israel's establishment to the present day, and explores future directions for the strategic partnership.

Partnership in Transition : U.S.-Israel Strategic Cooperation Beyond the Cold War

Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs

The 2016 elections in the United States exposed a massive campaign of subversion and interference carried out by Russia and aimed at undermining the inner workings of American democracy. But that disinformation offensive represents just one part of a larger challenge now confronting the United States - the weaponization of news and views, both real and fabricated, by repressive regimes and radical non-state actors in order to advance their strategic objectives. In this volume, leading scholars and experts chart the rise of this "authoritarian media" phenomenon and explore its implications for U.S. foreign policy and America's standing in the world.

Digital Dictators: Media, Authoritarianism, and America’s New Challenge (American Foreign Policy Council)

Today, more than four decades after its founding, the Islamic Republic of Iran is arguably at the weakest point in its history. At home, deteriorating domestic conditions, a profoundly disaffected population, and an increasingly unpopular official ideology have helped to galvanize opposition to the country's ruling clerical regime. Meanwhile, mounting economic and political pressure from the United States have taken aim at the country's economy and its malign regional behavior. The end result of this confluence of forces could very well be a new political upheaval within the country. The Fight for Iran is an in-depth look at that potential for change, as well as at the beliefs, ideas and values of the different factions that now exist within the Iranian opposition. It represents a chronicle of what, forty-one years after the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's Islamic Revolution, has become a profound political struggle for the soul of one of the Middle East's most important nations.

The Fight for Iran: Opposition Politics, Protest, and the Struggle for the Soul of a Nation (American Foreign Policy Council)

Are we on the cusp of détente with Iran? Conventional wisdom certainly seems to believe so. In the aftermath of the interim nuclear deal struck in November 2013 between the Islamic Republic and the P5+1 powers (the United States, France, England, Russia, China and Germany), hopes are now running high for a historic reconciliation between Iran's clerical regime and the West. Yet there is ample reason for skepticism that the United States and Europe can truly curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions by diplomatic means. Moreover, the current focus on Iran’s nuclear program not he part of the Western governments is deeply dangerous, because it fails to recognizelet alone addressIran’s other international activities, or its foreign policy ambitions. Those objectives reveals Ilan Berman, are global in scope, and they are growing. Iran's Deadly Ambition explains how America's retraction from the Middle East has created significant breathing room for an Iranian regime that not long ago was on the political ropes. Economically, the Islamic Republic is "out of the box" that was erected over the past decade-and-a-half by Western sanctions, thanks to the "interim" nuclear deal. As a result, Iran's leaders are again thinking big about their country and its place in the world. America faces stark choices: to confront Iran's nuclear ambitions and global activities, or to accept and accommodate the region's newest hegemon, with all that that portends for American security and the safety of its allies.

Iran's Deadly Ambition: The Islamic Republic s Quest for Global Power

History

Middle East

Encounter Books

Are we on the cusp of détente with Iran? Conventional wisdom certainly seems to believe so. Since the start of diplomacy between the Islamic Republic and the P5+1 powers (the United States, France, England, Russia, China, Germany) in November 2013, hopes have been running high for a historic reconciliation of Iran’s clerical regime with the West. Yet there is ample reason for skepticism that the United States and its allies can truly curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions by diplomatic means. Moreover, the West’s current focus on Iran’s nuclear program is deeply dangerous insofar as it fails to recognizelet alone addressIran’s other international activities or its foreign policy aims. Those objectives are global, and they continue to grow in scope and menace. In this sobering book, Ilan Berman illuminates the multiple dimensions of the Iranian threat and exposes the perils of lodging confidence in diplomacy with the Islamic Republic.

Iran's Deadly Ambition: The Islamic Republic's Quest for Global Power

Crisespolitical, social, and economicrun rampant within Mother Russia’s borders. Russian troops infiltrate the Crimean peninsula, the UN Security Council attempts to mediate concerning the conflict with Ukraine, and the United States pledges aid to former Soviet satellitesand civil war teeters on the brink of eruption. In the wake of the Sochi Olympics, it is Russia that is skating on thin ice, and Vladimir Putin’s autonomous regime looks shakier by the minute. Ilan Berman shows the future of the country as grim and on the fast track to complete ruination. Is the end in sight for this former superpower? In Implosion, Berman explains why Russia’s collapse is imminent and how this nation’s ultimate demise will vitiate the United States.

Implosion: The End of Russia and What It Means for America

Regnery

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Berman, Ilan. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Berman, Ilan

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Berman, Ilan. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Dismantling Tyranny: Transitioning Beyond Totalitarian Regimes

Dismantling Tyranny: Transitioning Beyond Totalitarian Regimes

Tehran Rising: Iran's Challenge to the United States

Winning the Long War: Retaking the Offensive against Radical Islam

Partnership in Transition : U.S.-Israel Strategic Cooperation Beyond the Cold War

Digital Dictators: Media, Authoritarianism, and America’s New Challenge (American Foreign Policy Council)

The Fight for Iran: Opposition Politics, Protest, and the Struggle for the Soul of a Nation (American Foreign Policy Council)

Iran's Deadly Ambition: The Islamic Republic s Quest for Global Power

Iran's Deadly Ambition: The Islamic Republic's Quest for Global Power

Implosion: The End of Russia and What It Means for America