The Volunteer or Resist: Case Studies in Contingent Consent

公民自愿遵守国家法律和政策是民主社会稳定运作的根本。尽管合规可以在短期内通过武力产生，但理论认为，从长远来看，如果民主机构要生存下去，合规必须是自愿的。这项研究通过比较自愿服兵役和抵制征兵的决定来检验自愿或临时服从的性质、程度和决定因素。将考察两个关键案例，19世纪末和20世纪初英国的爱尔兰人和本世纪的法裔加拿大人。这些案例将被用来检验这样一个假设，即只有当存在向公众提供信息的制度安排，使政府政策被视为公平，其他公民被视为尽到了公平的份额时，自愿遵守才是可能的。这项研究完成后，将加强我们对公民自愿遵守政府法律和政策的情况的了解。这些发现不仅应该对美国等当代民主国家产生影响，也应该对东欧和第三世界许多正在努力建立稳定的民主统治的国家产生影响。

Voluntary compliance by citizens with the laws and policies of the nation is fundamental to the stable functioning of democratic society. Although compliance can be produced in the short run by force, theory maintains that in the long run compliance must be voluntary if democratic institutions are to survive. This study examines the nature, extent, and determinants of voluntary or contingent compliance by comparing decisions to volunteer for military service with decisions to resistance military conscription. Two critical cases will be examined, the Irish in Britain during the late 19th and early 20th century and the French Canadians during this century. These cases will be used to test the hypothesis that voluntary compliance is possible only when institutional arrangements exists that provide information to the public so that government policies are perceived as fair and other citizens are perceived as doing their fair share. When completed this study will enhance our understanding of the circumstances under which citizens will voluntarily comply with government laws and policies. The findings should have implications not only for contemporary democracies such as the United States but for the many nations in Eastern Europe and the third world that are struggling to establish stable democratic rule.