On the behavior of a totalitarian regime toward dissidents: an economic analysis

• Publisher: Springer US
• Year: 1978
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 640 KB
• Volume: 33
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0048-5829
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00123945

✦ Synopsis

The problem which a totalitarian regime faces in the treatment of dissidents may be viewed partly as an economic problem of assessing the associated benefits and costs. By dissidents, I mean those individuals or groups of individuals who demand that their government recognize certain basic human rights, those that are taken more or less for granted by citizens of Western democratic societies. In dealing with dissidents, the choice of a repressive authority is either to punish or not to punish them. But a decision of a regime to punish or not to punish dissidents can be expected to entail benefits and costs, both internal and external. The external costs of punishment, for instance, may be in the form of decreases in economic and f'mancial assistance from industrial, democratic societies of the West, particularly the United States. The recent announcement of the United States government to the effect that its economic and technical assistance would be considered in relation to the respect of human rights seems to be based on the premise that foreign repressive regimes would respond to external~"economic pressures by relaxing their policy of repression of dissidents. This note presents an analysis of the economic benefits and costs associated with a repressive regime's decision to punish or not to punish dissidents, its Choice of an optimal strategy, and the relative effectiveness and limitation of the use of foreign assistance as an instrument of foreign policy. o As noted above, the decision of a regime to punish (or not to punish) dissidents entail external economic costs as well as internal benefits. The external costs arise largely from reaction and protest from people in Western democrati~ societies, above all the United States, who would consequently be less willing to support their government's foreign economic and financial