How can dictators use political parties to their own advantage? One party, two parties, lots of parties, no parties? What's the best way to stay in power?

This week a dictator writes in with the aspiration of being a TV celebrity. Is this just a crazy personal fantasy or could it translate into real power. I look to well known social scientist Max Weber for some answers

Just because a dictator rules a poor country doesn’t mean he or she has to be broke. Many of the dictators of the poorest countries have spent lavish sums on themselves and their most loyal supporters. Where does all this money come from? As the title suggests, it comes from foreign aid. In this episode, I discuss how dictators can use the money willingly given by Western countries for their own gain.

Dictators often rely on friends to help them gain power. Can they then afford to keep these friends around? What happens when a friend becomes a liability?

What happens when your people demand elections? This week's letter is from a dictator who is afraid he's going to lose any election he holds but afraid of civil war if he cancels. I give him 6 ways he can rig an election.

This week an anonymous dictator who goes by "Haggard" has written to ask whether he should crush or give in to the demands of protestors outside the palace gates. The answer I provide is a little more complicated and a lot more interesting than that.