this week bruce bueno de mesquita and alastair smith present their collaborative work, the dictator's handbook. the acclaimed new york university professors explain how autocrats and dictators are able to maintain power by doing whatever is necessary to please the coalition that will support their regime. they explore their theory with associate press national security editor anne gearan. >> host: hello. i'm anne gearan. we're going to talk today about a new book, the dictator's handbook which as i understand builds on work that both of you have done over a number of years in some previous political science work. can you explain how "the dictator's handbook" is different from your previous theories about how dictators and autocracies function differently than democracies? and at whom is this book primarily aimed? >> guest: well, the prior work, academic work takes on a political survival. there's no calculus in this book. there are no statistics in this book. is not even algebra in this book. that's an important difference. >> host: a little math, right? >> guest: this is a book aimed