Dismantling Tyranny offers a rigorous set of case studies of seven formerly communist-ruled countries and how they resolved the dismantling of their respective secret police organizations. Each country profiled had a unique experience: e.g., the Russian experience of cosmetic transformation, the Czech Republic's model of political screening (de jure lustration), Estonia's model of absolute screening (de facto lustration), and Nicaragua's complete replacement of one loyal totalitarian system with another.