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Voting with Your Feet: Exit-based Empowerment in Democratic Theory

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  • WARREN, MARK E.

Abstract

Democracy is about including those who are potentially affected by collective decisions in making those decisions. For this reason, contemporary democratic theory primarily assumes membership combined with effective voice. An alternative to voice is exit: Dissatisfied members may choose to leave a group rather than voice their displeasure. Rights and capacities for exit can function as low-cost, effective empowerments, particularly for those without voice. But because contemporary democratic theory often dismisses exit as appropriate only for economic markets, the democratic potentials of exit have rarely been theorized. Exit-based empowerments should be as central to the design and integrity of democracy as distributions of votes and voice, long considered its key structural features. When they are integrated into other democratic devices, exit-based empowerments should generate and widely distribute usable powers for those who need them most, evoke responsiveness from elites, induce voice, discipline monopoly, and underwrite vibrant and pluralistic societies.

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  • Warren, Mark E., 2011. "Voting with Your Feet: Exit-based Empowerment in Democratic Theory," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 105(4), pages 683-701, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:apsrev:v:105:y:2011:i:04:p:683-701_00
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. David Wiens, 2015. "Natural resources and government responsiveness," Politics, Philosophy & Economics, , vol. 14(1), pages 84-105, February.
    2. Joost Berkhout & Jan Beyers & Marcel Hanegraaff, 2023. "The Representative Potential of Interest Groups: Internal Voice in Post-Communist and Western European Countries," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 11(1), pages 50-64.
    3. Arthur Silve & Thierry Verdier & Thierry Verdier, 2023. "The Dynastic Transmission of Power, Exit Options and the Coevolution of Rent-Seeking Elites," CESifo Working Paper Series 10410, CESifo.
    4. Brad R. Taylor, 2017. "The Lack of Competition in Governance as an Impediment to Regional Development in Australia," Agenda - A Journal of Policy Analysis and Reform, Australian National University, College of Business and Economics, School of Economics, vol. 24(1), pages 21-30.
    5. Brad R. Taylor, 2016. "Exit and the Epistemic Quality of Voice," Economic Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(2), pages 133-144, June.
    6. Eva Sørensen & Jacob Torfing, 2021. "Accountable Government through Collaborative Governance?," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-20, November.
    7. Birnbaum Simon & De Wispelaere Jurgen, 2016. "Basic Income in the Capitalist Economy: The Mirage of “Exit” from Employment," Basic Income Studies, De Gruyter, vol. 11(1), pages 61-74, June.
    8. Revkin, Mara Redlich & Ahram, Ariel I., 2020. "Perspectives on the rebel social contract: Exit, voice, and loyalty in the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).

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