The Great Wall of Silence: Voice-Silence Dynamics in Authoritarian Regimes

Monica Brito Vieira

doi:10.1080/13698230.2020.1796333

The Great Wall of Silence: Voice-Silence Dynamics in Authoritarian Regimes

Monica Brito Vieira

Politics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

How does the voice-silence dynamics affect the durability of authoritarian regimes? This article reformulates Hirschman’s voice, loyalty, exit model to answer this question. It demonstrates that the model’s heuristic value is significantly hampered by conceptual imprecision around the category of voice, a narrow understanding of exit, and – in particular – the neglect of the category of silence. Once these categories are conceptually reworked, and silence is placed next to voice and exit – as a core concept, not a residual category, in the model – the “dictator’s dilemma” emerges as a “silence paradox” hinting at some of authoritarianism’s main vulnerabilities. The case of China is used to illustrate the article’s key theoretical-conceptual advancements.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1-25
Number of pages	25
Journal	Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy
Early online date	22 Jul 2020
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/13698230.2020.1796333
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 22 Jul 2020

Bibliographical note

© 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details.

Access to Document

10.1080/13698230.2020.1796333

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© 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details.
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Cite this

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abstract = "How does the voice-silence dynamics affect the durability of authoritarian regimes? This article reformulates Hirschman{\textquoteright}s voice, loyalty, exit model to answer this question. It demonstrates that the model{\textquoteright}s heuristic value is significantly hampered by conceptual imprecision around the category of voice, a narrow understanding of exit, and – in particular – the neglect of the category of silence. Once these categories are conceptually reworked, and silence is placed next to voice and exit – as a core concept, not a residual category, in the model – the “dictator{\textquoteright}s dilemma” emerges as a “silence paradox” hinting at some of authoritarianism{\textquoteright}s main vulnerabilities. The case of China is used to illustrate the article{\textquoteright}s key theoretical-conceptual advancements.",

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