This book offers a fresh and original approach to the study of one of the dominant features of the twentieth century. Adopting a truly global approach to the realities of modern dictatorship, this handbook examines the multiple ways in which dictatorship functions - both for the rulers and for the ruled - and draws on the expertise of more than twenty five distinguished contributors coming from European, American, and Asian universities. While confronting the immense complexities of repression and popular response under dictatorship, the volume also poses a series of wide-ranging questions about the political organization of present-day mass society.

Introduction by Paul Corner and Jie-Hyun Lim. - PART I: PROJECTS. - ‘Intro’ by Konrad Jarausch. - time/promise of future/ history of future by Stephen Smith. - utopianism/social engineering by Guido Fanzinetti. - colonialism/imperialism by Daniel Hedinger. - nation building/development by Michael Kim. - religion/political religion by Charles Armstrong. - scientification/hygienisation by Sang-Hyun Kim. - PART II: DOMINATION. - ‘Intro’ by Antonio Costa Pinto. - terror/violence by Antonio Costa Pinto. - policing/surveillance by Jonathan Dunnage. - legislation/inclusion & exclusion by Eve Rosenhaft. - public sphere/instrument. of knowledge/information control by Ioana Macrea-Toma. - labour/coordination/control of economy/control of resources by Janis Mimura. - memory management by Nobuya Hashimoto. - PART III: MOBILIZATION. - ‘Intro’ by Karen Petrone. - leisure/social welfare/labour by Robert Edelman. - festivals/propaganda/culture by Karen Petrone. - leader cult/party as movement/partypolitics by Daniel Leese. - gender politics by Choi Chatterjee and Afshin Martin-Asgan. - heroship by Catriona Kelly. - films/Performances by Hansang Kim. - PART IV: MILITARIZATION. - ‘Intro’ by Daniel Hedinger. - total war/armament by Kenneth Slepyan. - military education/conscription by David Stone. - language, discourses, performativity by Łukasz Jeziński. - home front, self-mobilization, civil defence by Narita Ryuichi. - cult of death by Akiko Takenaka. - PART V: APPROPRIATION. - ‘Intro’ by Eve Rosenhaft. - active commitment/volunteering by Takashi Fujitani. - complicity/collaboration by Michael Kim. - copying/conformity by Elisa Mailaender. - non-compliance/imperviousness/resistance by Paul Corner. - victimhood by Jie-Hyun Lim