When All Else Fails

Albert O. Hirschman, an economist, proposed that people living under democratic governments can answer official wrongdoing in only three ways: exit, voice, or loyalty. Jason Brennan contends that a fourth path exists. When the state tramples our rights, he says, resistance is not only permissible but may be a moral obligation. Brennan notes that for generations the prevailing view has held that officials must be left free to act as they like, however badly they behave. Citizens may protest, file lawsuits, or cast ballots against those in power, but the idea of fighting back has been ruled out. Brennan argues the opposite: no one is bound to let the state or its agents do injustice. He defends what he calls "uncivil disobedience," a range of responses that includes refusing to cooperate with unjust laws and resisting arrest under them, defying orders, sabotaging public property, and leaking classified material. He also considers deceiving voters who are uninformed, irrational, or acting in bad faith, and using force to protect oneself or others. The book is a provocative test of long-standing assumptions about how citizens should respond when officials act unjustly or misuse their authority.