Exit and Voice: Unpacked
33
act as the homeland’s “tail” but “may dominate the wagging” (2005[1989]: xv;
2007: 125). Accordingly, their movements can stoke sectarianism and prolong
civil wars, as well as contribute to conflict resolution and reconstruction (Chalk
2008; Cochrane et al. 2009; Davis and Moore 1997; Fair 2005; van Hear and
Cohen 2017). Thus, despite their displacement – and indeed because of it –
diaspora members’ enduring loyalties reshape the political terrain at home and
the international responses to conflicts therein.4
1.2 exit and voice: unpacked
As the transnational turn in the mobilization and migration literature makes
clear, exit can facilitate voice against abusive regimes when diaspora members’
transnational ties promote loyalty to the people and places left behind
(Duquette-Rury 2020; Hoffmann 2010). By voice, Hirschman means the literal
words and actions that express discontent, from grumblings to violent protest
(1970: 15). For diaspora members, voice can take many forms, including
postings on social media, public protests that call for host-country governments
to intercede, and direct interventions in home-country wars and charity.
Writing on voice against authoritarian regimes, political scientist Guillermo
O’Donnell (1986) usefully suggests that voice varies according to whom it is
directed. The first dimension is what he calls “horizontal voice,” which signifies
the ability to express dissent within one’s community without the fear of
sanctions. One expresses horizontal voice when Tweeting complaints about
the majority political party and when expressing a political preference to a
friend or neighbor. Horizontal voice is premised on what scholar Phillip Ayoub
(2016: 23) calls interpersonal and public visibility. Visibility is required so that
aggrieved persons can locate each other, communicate with one another, and
forge social movements based on common grievances and aims. In other words,
visibility enables persons with common grievances to rally around shared
identities and claims without repercussions and be recognized by the wider
society and the state. Perhaps there are some exceptions to this rule, as in
the case of online anonymous groups that hack corporations. Nevertheless,
without horizontal voice, collective action on behalf of shared causes
becomes unlikely.
The second dimension is “vertical” voice (O’Donnell 1986). Vertical voice is
directed toward authorities and powerholders through actions such as protest
and lobbying. By mobilizing to gain the attention of policymakers, the media,
NGOs, and other influential actors, activists work to “draw in the crowd” into
the fight (Gamson and Wolfsfeld 1983; Lipsky 1968; Schattschneider 1960).
4
The struggle for “freedom, self-determination, and national identity” has been “paradoxically”
transnational (Field 1971: 5) owing to the opportunities that activists gain in advocating for
change from afar and owing to the role that exiles play in long-distance nationalism (Anderson
1998; Hockenos 2003).
https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009272148 Published online by Cambridge University Press
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