Tyranny Comes Home

Under certain conditions, these policies, tactics, and technologies are then re-imported to America, changing the national landscape and increasing the extent to which we live in a police state. Coyne and Hall examine this pattern – which they dub “the boomerang effect” – considering a variety of rich cases that include the rise of state surveillance, the militarization of domestic law enforcement, the expanding use of drones, and torture in US prisons. Synthesizing research and applying an economic lens, they develop a generalizable theory to predict and explain a startling trend. 

Tyranny Comes Home unveils a new aspect of the symbiotic relationship between foreign interventions and domestic politics. It gives us alarming insight into incidents like the shooting in Ferguson, Missouri, and the Snowden case – which tell a common story about contemporary foreign policy and its impact on our civil liberties.

The book is published by Stanford University Press. The audiobook is published by University Press Audiobooks.

Praise for the book:

“An excellent expository text that I do believe was one of the most educational I have read in some time…” (London School of Economics Review of Books)

“Clearly and boldly argued, this is an excellent contribution to our understanding of the economics of interventionism.” (Joshua Hall, West Virginia University)

“Coyne and Hall brilliantly reveal that a fatal coarsening comes with the rise of an empire.” (Deirdre Nansen McCloskey, University of Illinois at Chicago)