James Loxton is a Senior Lecturer in Comparative Politics at the University of Sydney. He is the award-winning author of Conservative Party-Building in Latin America: Authoritarian Inheritance and Counterrevolutionary Struggle (2021) and co-editor of Life after Dictatorship: Authoritarian Successor Parties Worldwide (2018). He holds a PhD in Government from Harvard University.

• 1: What is Authoritarianism? 2: Varieties of Authoritarianism 3: The Birth of Authoritarian Regimes 4: The Life of Authoritarian Regimes 5: The Death of Authoritarian Regimes 6: The Puzzle of Authoritarian Durability 7: Legacies of Authoritarianism References Further Reading

Authoritarianism not only endures but is thriving in the twenty-first century. As dictatorships continue to shape politics across much of the globe, it has become clear that we need to better understand what engenders and sustains them. Authoritarianism: A Very Short Introduction is the place to start. For anyone teaching or learning about the causes, durability, and legacies of authoritarian rule, Loxton's insightful and masterfully-written book should be the first off the shelf.