Quid Sit Tyrannus? Seeking to Understand Tyranny within and among Regimes

Waller Newell's Tyrants is a public-spirited book, designed to contribute to a civic educational effort to identify and understand the characteristics of tyranny. But if, as Newell argues, entire countries—and not just individuals—can be tyrannical, does the character of democracy necessarily inoculate itself against tyrannizing over others? The example of Athens, among other ancient cities, should give us reason for caution. The effort to make an understanding of tyranny properly civic seems therefore to be a permanent challenge.