What Counts As Coercion

In Rights Are Forged, we argued that “Rights are preferences we are willing to enforce through coercion, and consider ethical to do so.” Coercion is a central concept in ethics, politics, and law—but it is rarely defined with precision. People use the word to describe everything from violent threats to emotional manipulation. This post offers a clear, minimal, and operational definition of coercion, grounded in agency and consistent with our framework.

Definition:

Coercion is the credible threat of actual harm to gain compliance.

This definition draws heavily from Robert Nozick, who offered a similar formulation in Anarchy, State, and Utopia, and refines it for clarity and applicability.

Let’s break it down and test each element with examples.

1. Credible

The threat must be believable to the person being coerced.

• Example (Credible):
  A mugger says, “Give me your wallet or I’ll shoot.” He’s holding a loaded gun.
  → The threat is credible.

• Counterexample (Not Credible):
  A child says, “If you don’t give me candy, I’ll turn you into a frog.”
  → No rational adult believes this is possible.

2. Threat

The harm must be conditional: if you do not comply, harm will follow.

• Example (True Threat):
  “If you don’t sign this contract, we’ll destroy your reputation.”
  → Harm is avoidable through compliance.

• Counterexample (Statement of Fact):
  “I’m going to fire you.”
  → Not coercion unless paired with an alternative: “...unless you work this weekend.”

3. Actual Harm

The threatened consequence must be something the coerced agent has reason to avoid.

• Example (Actual Harm):
  “Pay your taxes or you’ll be imprisoned.”
  → Imprisonment qualifies as harm.

• Counterexample (No Real Harm):
  “If you don’t agree, I’ll be disappointed.”
  → Emotional discomfort is not actual harm unless backed by material consequence.

4. To Gain Compliance

The purpose of the threat must be to induce specific behavior.

• Example (Compliance-Seeking):
  “Hand over the documents or I’ll leak your private messages.”
  → Aimed at altering behavior.

• Counterexample (Punitive):
  “You’re going to jail because you broke the law.”
  → This is punishment, not a threat aimed at compliance.

Composite Example (Meets All Criteria):

“If you don’t testify in court, we’ll expose your immigration status to authorities.”

• Credible? Yes.

• Threat? Yes.

• Harm? Yes.

• Compliance? Yes.

→ Coercion.

Why This Matters

This definition draws a clean line between coercion and other forms of influence:

• Not persuasion (no harm).

• Not bribery (no threat).

• Not force (harm is already inflicted).

Coercion lives in the shadow of violence, but it preserves the illusion of choice. It is an attempt to shape agency through fear.

By clarifying what counts as coercion, we gain moral and political precision. We can distinguish legitimate defense from domination, voluntary agreement from coerced compliance, and ethical boundaries from brute power.