Exit, Voice, Loyalty Revisited: Contours and Implications for Public Administration in Dark Times

Abstract

The ascendance of public choice theory in public administration scholarship and practice has contributed to America's increasing vulnerability to state crimes against democracy. Hirschman's framework of "exit, voice, and loyalty" helps to explain the implications of public choice theory. In practice, the theory's dominance has led to expanded opportunities for exit at the expense of opportunities and conditions necessary for popular control of government through voice. A "forensic public administration" is needed to detect and investigate patterns in elite decision-making indicative of enduring efforts to game democratic processes.