Polity Atlas
Thinker

Ronald Wintrobe

Canadian economist at Western University who applied rational-choice theory to dictatorship, distinguishing tinpot from totalitarian dictators and formulating the dictator's dilemma.

Source attached · not independently reviewedLast verified 2026-10-01 · revision 10 · 1 reviewersRevision historyЧитать на русском
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Key ideas

TheoryThe dictator's information problemThe dilemma that repression and censorship, which keep autocrats safe, also stop them learning what citizens and officials really think and do. Wintrobe called it the dictator's dilemma; later work studies how regimes try to recover information through limited media freedom, protest, petitions and internal reporting.

Revision history

  1. 2026-10-30rev 10 — Translations import
  2. 2026-10-30rev 9 — Translations import
  3. 2026-10-30rev 8 — Translations import
  4. 2026-10-30rev 7 — Translations import
  5. 2026-10-30rev 6 — Translations import
  6. 2026-10-30rev 5 — Translations import
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  9. 2026-10-30rev 2 — Translations import
  10. 2026-10-30rev 1 — Seed import