When citizens disobey
When citizens stop complying with laws, the legitimacy of government comes into question, especially in nondemocratic states — or so goes a prominent strand of political thinking. But what if citizens are doing something subtler, such as disobeying in order to enact smaller, more incremental changes? That’s the implication of a new study of political attitudes among people in rural China, an area where political scientists would not normally expect to see give-and-take between residents and the government. The study, conducted by Lily Tsai, an associate professor of political science at MIT, suggests that citizens who do not follow all the laws are engaging in “constructive noncompliance” — acts that are intended to prompt the government to alter its policies, without necessarily challenging its overall status. Roughly two-thirds of citizens surveyed think local officials take their views into account when making decisions, while only 15 percent say they would “always follow” a local...