Leaders own self-interest is the driving force of politics and organizations. In particular, leaders primarily care about getting power and staying in power. Thus, the essential lesson of politics and organizations is that ruling is the objective. It does not matter if leaders rule well. According to Bueno de Mesquita and Smith, there are five basic rules that leaders can use to survive in any political system. This theme structures the text since many of the chapters focus on these rules and the various pathologies of politics. The theme also serves to justify the text itself. The complexity of politics requires readers to educate themselves on these rules, especially if they hope to fix the rules to rule by so leaders rule better.

The first rule is to keep the winning coalition or essentials as small as possible. Once in power, leaders, especially those in small-coalition governments, surround themselves only with trusted family members and friends, keeping the coalition small. The leaders install these individuals in the most important government positions, which involve the military and money, and may kill anyone who could be a rival. Saddam Hussein, a member of the Ba’ath Party who led Iraq from 1979 to 2003, is one example.