How to Become a Tyrant (2021)
Ruling with an iron fist requires an aspiring dictator to know the playbook for absolute power, as history's despots prove in this sardonic docuseries.
Cast: Peter Dinklage, Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, Waller Newell, Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Fathali Moghaddam, Asha Rangappa, Andrew Sullivan, Alastair Smith, Madeleine Albright, Mariam Mufti, Benjamin Radd, Milton Allimadi, Jodi Beggs, Jonathan Brent, Paul Fischer, Suki Kim, Wendy Lower, Alicia C. Decker
Rule Forever
Seizing power is hard, but keeping it is harder. In North Korea, the Kim dynasty unlocked the secret to ruling forever: They declared themselves gods.
Create a New Society
Free speech? Right to assembly? Rebel-turned-dictator Muammar Gaddafi realized that civil liberties had to go when reshaping society. But he got soft.
Control the Truth
Through public relations spin, revisionist history and censorship. Soviet autocrat Joseph Stalin found a certain flexibility with the truth useful.
Reign Through Terror
When keeping your population under control, is it better to be loved or feared? Idi Amin certainly thought he knew the right answer to that question.
Crush Your Rivals
You've secured your place at the top, but maintaining power means watching your back. Nobody did that better or more ruthlessly than Saddam Hussein.
Seize Power
Interested in becoming a tyrant? There are rules, and the playbook for a rise to dictatorship starts with one of history's most brutal: Adolf Hitler.