A. O. Hirschman – selections
The Essay under discussion is "Exit, Voice, and the State," whose ideas are curved by Albert Hirschman. The essay begins by his sighting the general idea of his book, Exit, Voice, and Loyalty. The rationale behind the book is that one has the option of voicing their concerns in a state or organization, or exit the entity (page 2). Exit usually occurs when a party’s interests are not met by the organization in which they are a member. The essay first explains exit in the scope of the work of Jean Rousseau. The philosopher observed that is a savage situation; exit is usually an option when a person does not conform to the available ways of his group. In savage societies, exit was considered after a member lost a fight to another one. In such societies, a dispute was settled by fights, where the winner was left to enjoy his victory while the loser left to look for other means of survival. The aspect of exit in this case was dependent on the presence or absence of pride. The writer chooses to clarify that the school of thought that Rousseau adopted did not denote exit as being a deterrent factor to the survival of people. It was, in actual sense, seen as an option in the face of a conflict. The same thought was afforded by Hirschman in his view of what exit did in a stateless society. It served the function of diffusing existing conflicts and extended the Statelessness of most societies through continuous fission. Examples are given of societies that have incorporated the art of theexit when the people become unsatisfied with the services offered. Instead of propelling conflicts, they exit the society and form new ones. For instance, it is observed that the Brazilian village of Nambikuara has fully embraced exit (page 4). When the chief of the village does not conform to what the people think is ideal for them, the people move and join other groups or villages. The social structure of such a village is, therefore, on a continuous shift and eventually creates a situation where the numbers cannot be recognized. Another Brazilian tribe called Kayapo encourages people to fight in conflicts and the losers exit the community to join places they suppose have greener pastures. The losing people leave because of their pride.
Hirschman explores literature that observes the effect that exit has in creating statelessness in African societies (page 6). In this scenario, he talks about the physical movement of people from a large community into small groups that are within the same classification as the larger one. In Central Africa, it is noted that the form of ruler ship is based on the kinship system. The system does not have restrictions on what a tribe a person may have. The people, therefore, exit their tribes and communities when there is scarcity of food. They also move when there are frictions. Such situations leave a lot to be desired in terms of State formation because new societies are formed at any moment and place. The regularity of the kind of exit that is practiced in these societies prevents the formation of any significant State authorities that will have the power over the people. The availability of open resources that are mostly unoccupied in such society also makes it difficult of the adoption of a State.
Hirschman notes that the exit has the effect of preventing organized and large State organs from occurring in places that are Stateless. However, he establishes that when compared to the individualism that the Stateless societies profess, the political institutions tend to be unstable. They have more friction when they are compared to a system that is individual-based. He also identifies that exit causes the limitation of voice (page 8). When the option to exit a society is readily available, most individuals will not voice their concerns. Rather, they will prefer to exit the community in conflicts. Voice, most achieved through the political process, will, therefore, not be manifested in such societies. Unfortunately, the aspect of exit is difficult to alter and can only be transformed through the exhaustion of the open resources that facilitate it or the invasion. Regarding whether exit has any results, Hirschman observes that for an organization or society, it may lead to improved performances. However, for individuals, it would only draw their satisfaction at having won and made another person exit the band.
Exit is identified as being similar to market situation where buyers can optimistically switch to other sellers. It is presented as a viable option when parties are not satisfied with something. They move to other bands to have their demands met. However, the availability of that option in the United States is minimal because of issues such as race discrimination. The result is that there has been the issue of ghettoization that has ruined the beauty of the big cities in the country. The concept is ideal for the indigenous people from the forests even though it has not been a permanent solution for all their misfortunes and conflicts.
The European State in the 18th century is said to have existed in the most severe case of exit. When one form of exits was controlled, there was always another form that sprung up. The state of commerce is attributed to contributing to the way things were because it gave rise to an absolutist state. The state of finance led to a form of wealth that was movable. The wealth was in terms of bill exchanges, money stock in companies and so forth. The new wealth could be moved from one nation to the other as opposed to wealth that was accumulated through buildings and such things as land (page 8). There were subsequent debates on the political symbolism of the exit of the movable wealth among states. One of the effects was cited in the aspect of debts. The debt was said to cause people who had no prior connections with the country to enjoy the wealth they did not work for in any part of the globe. The positive part of the movable wealth was identified in the fact that it would result in good governance. The rationale behind such thinking is that the citizens can hide their wealth in invisible places, and the government will not interfere in that. Hirschman incorporated the thoughts of theorists such as Adam Smith. Adam identified the difficulty in the taxation of money that can exit via states. He noted that land can be measured for the exact tax it is worth because it is not a secret as opposed to movable wealth. In addition, he cited that the owner of a piece of land remains a citizen of aparticular country. He cannot move because his land is in that Country. However, those who are involved in stock belong to the world (page 12). They are always in motion in search for the best business environment for them. Whenever the corporations and citizens of a country feel threatened by the situation in their home of origin, they engage in the concept of exit, where they leave in for better opportunities elsewhere.
However, the issue of wealth moving, comprising of capital flight, is noted as not affecting all the countries on an equal basis. For instance, some of the larger countries will still retain its wealthy people and corporations because they are the ultimate running center. They have the best available opportunities and business climate for the citizens who are left with no choice, but to stay. In such States, the voice is bound to play a more useful role when compared to exit(Hirschman, Albert, 5). In this sense, the capitalists will have no place else to go and be forced to air their concerns. They will do so through attempt to conjure the public into their plight through public opinion and policy.
The 18th century was a time that was associated with a lot of migration, especially from the European nations to the United States. The migration was just recently curbed through the theories in such things as brain drain. In the 18th century, the political and economic dangers of the enormous migration happening were not anticipated. The people migrating were in many ways unsatisfied with their mother countries and resorted to exit as opposed to voice (page 14). The result was that social protests were substantially reduced in the European nations. In addition, exit led rise to the betterment of political systems for the people that stayed in their imperfect countries. The countries noted the need for reforms. However, one of the effects, as indicated above was the issue of brain drain. The States that people ran away from suffered a significant loss of competent citizens in various fields. Additionally, countries such as Ireland and East Germany that experienced emigration felt that their nationalism was threatened. The countries had to improve the welfare of the people to stop something that was threatening their very existence and identification as a people(Crouch, Colin, 12). They improved their economic conditions to suit their citizens and present them from exiting the country.
The above discussion is an eye opener and gives insight into the perspective of how exit and voice relate to the State. It is true that an exit does occur when people are dissatisfied with their environment. Most of the time, the citizens are not given room to raise their voice. In other instance, their voices do not result in any action. Therefore, they end up leaving to look for better groups. The aspect of exit does have many effects, and it is upon the state to ensure that it does not happen. Citizens have the free will to choose. The only way that it can be avoided is through appropriate changes, just like Hirschman noted.
Works Cited
Crouch, Colin. "Exit and Voice in the Future of the Welfare State." Government and Opposition: 407-21. Print.
Hirschman, Albert. "Exit, Voice and the State." World Politics 31.1 (1978). Print.
