In all modern societies, political power depends upon very modest levels of coercion and a high degree of willing compliance. Willing compliance takes us back to the sense of obligation that turns power into authority. Without that sense of obligation, power faces only three options. One is to force people to comply by means of effective coercion – the North Korean option. The second is to attempt this option but to provoke reactive organized violence against the state – the Syrian option. The third is for power to recognize its limitations and retreat into theatre: power issues commands that
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