Career pressure – not ideology – causes military officers to protect or overthrow dictators. New research from the Department of Political Science shows that ambition and anxiety can transform ‘ordinary men’ into the regime's ruthless henchmen – or into those who bury the regime.

Why do some people become the dictators’ most brutal agents? And why do others overthrow them in a coup? The new research published in the book ‘Making a Career in Dictatorship: The Secret Logic behind Repression and Coups’ offers a surprising answer: it is not about fanaticism or sadism – but about the fear that one’s own career is stalling.