The Political Anatomy of Domination

"This is a very erudite piece of work, working from cases such as Nazi Germany and North Africa. In very interesting ways for an Africanist, the author makes African cases-including North Africa-key examples to understand through the general and comparative lens of "domination" that works through the mediation of paradox, illogicality and uncertainty, through the mobilization of selective and specific clientelism, and other techniques. The richness of the examples, their juxtaposition and the links forged to the theoretical literature (without being polemic) offers a strong example for readers entering the theme itself and/or their own case studies." (Jane Guyer, Professor Emerita, Johns Hopkins University, USA) "This book shows with an impressing amount of examples how authoritarian regimes use plenty of other complex and subtle tools to persuade their subjects to comply and to tolerate them. The great merit of this outstanding work is to show the hidden face of authoritarian domination. Taking advantage of the exceptional experience of field research of its author, the book draws a map of the numerous and multifaceted techniques of domination adopted by authoritarian regimes. A very brilliant and penetrating contribution to political sociology, political science and sociology of power relations." (Alfio Mastropaolo, Full Professor, University of Turin, Italy)

Rereading Marx, Weber, Gramsci and, more recently, Foucault, Beatrice Hibou tackles one of the core questions of political and social theory: state domination. Combining comparative analyses of everyday life and economics, she highlights the arrangements, understandings and practices that make domination conceivable, bearable, even acceptable or reassuring. To carry out this demonstration, Hibou examines authoritarian situations-especially comparing the paradigmatic European cases of fascism, Nazism and Soviet socialism and those of contemporary China or North and Sub-Saharan Africa.