Khadija Ismayilova, an opposition journalist, says there is a new word for this kind of regime.

"Democratatorship — dictatorships pretending to democracies," she said from Baku.

Singing mainly in his native languages of Dioula, French and English, Blondy also has some songs written in Arabic and Hebrew. Known for his mixture of political activism and hearty sense of humor (he coined the term "democratatorship" to identify some African governments), he is sure to entertain.

After 1990, Ugresic's citizenship legally became, like it or not, Croatian. Asked to fill in the blank for "nationality" on inevitable forms, she wrote, "None." She also wrote other things that didn't please the Croatian "democratatorship" (as she dubs these hybrid political forms), such as the essays in this book.