Cuba: Exit, Voice, or Loyalty

the AZEL PERSPECTIVE Commentary on Cuba's Future, U.S. Foreign Policy & Individual Freedoms - Issue 224

Cuba: Exit, Voice, or Loyalty  Share Tweet Forward

Exit, Voice, and Loyalty: Responses to decline in firms, organizations, and states, is the title of a 1970 book by economist and political scientist Albert O. Hirschman.  Hirschman, born in Germany in 1915, lived a full and intrepid life.  He was educated at the Sorbonne and at the London School of Economics, and then volunteered to fight on the side of the Spanish Republic in the Spanish Civil War. In World War II, Hirschman helped the scape of many of Europe’s prominent intellectuals, leading them from occupied France through the Pyrenees Mountains and then to Portugal. From 1943 to 1946 he served in the United States Army in the Office of Strategic Services-a predecessor to the Central Intelligence Agency. Hirschman went on to hold prestigious academic appointments in economics at Yale University, Columbia University, Harvard University, and at the Institute for Advanced Study. He received numerous awards throughout his life, and in 2001 was named among the top 100 American intellectuals, as measured by academic citations. Hirschman died in the United States in 2012 at 97. Exit, Voice, and Loyalty is not a page turner, but became an influential must-read book for social scientists. Hirschman thesis is that an individual in a disappointing or failing relationship has three choices. That person can leave, complain, or endure in silence. The three options are applicable to commercial, personal, or political circumstances. And, although Hirschman’s focus in the book is primarily on organizations, political parties, and consumer choices, his work is also essential to understanding the choices made by immigrants and political exiles: to leave, protest, or endure in silence. In Hirschman’s scheme of exit, voice, and loyalty, “exit” is leaving a country by migrating to a different nation-state; “voice” is the option of articulating discontent; and “loyalty” is allegiance to the governing regime or its ideology. Here I am thinking of exit, voice, or loyalty, as the options available to the citizenry of oppressive regimes such as those in Cuba, Venezuela and elsewhere where the voice option has been truncated. It is necessary to note that, even in repressive regimes, there is always a certain loyalty to the government. All regimes need at least a modicum of acceptance from some sectors of the population to hold on to the legitimacy and operational capabilities of its institutions. Without some measure of loyalty, the political and economic institutions of the regime could not operate or survive, for example the armed forces.  This leaves exit and voice, as the mutually exclusive options available to those not loyal to a regime. In Hirschman’s analysis, voice is an effort by the people to change the practices of the regime. He defines voice as any attempt to change, rather than to escape from an objectionable state of affairs. Voice is a complex concept because “it can be graduated, all the way from faint grumbling to violent protest.” He also makes the point that the early exit of the higher quality voices paralyzes voice by depriving it of its principal agents. When the exit option is unavailable, voice is the only option for any opposition. In Hirschman’s view, “…the role of voice increases as the opportunities for exit decline.” On the other hand, the easier the exit option, the lower the prospect of voice.  “The presence of the exit alternative can therefore tend to atrophy the development of the art of voice.” Knowing this, oppressive regimes have long sough for political enemies and critics to remove themselves from the national sphere. Hirschman’s formulation of Exit, Voice, and Loyaltyis powerful and valid. Yet, it overlooks the use of exit as a means to obtain resources for a more forceful exercise of voice. This was the case of my generation of early Cuban exiles who exited, primarily searching for the means and opportunity to return and overthrow Cuba’s oppressive regime. The 1961 Bay of Pigs landing of the Brigade 2506 and other actions undertaken in the 1960s and 1970s exemplify the reasons for this exit. Today, our voices are older and softer, but still loyal to freedom. Please let us know if you  this article. We welcome your feedback. Abrazos,  Lily & José  (click on the name to email Lily or Jose) José Azel, Ph.D. José Azel left Cuba in 1961 as a 13 year-old political exile in what has been dubbed Operation Pedro Pan - the largest unaccompanied child refugee movement in the history of the Western Hemisphere. He is currently dedicated to the in-depth analyses of Cuba's economic, social and political state, with a keen interest in post-Castro-Cuba strategies. Formerly, a Senior Scholar at the Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies (ICCAS) at the University of Miami, Jose Azel has published extensively on Cuba related topics. In 2012 and 2015, Dr. Azel testified in the U.S. Congress on U.S.-Cuba Policy, and U.S. National Security.  He is a frequent speaker and commentator on these and related topics on local, national and international media.  He holds undergraduate and masters degrees in business administration and a Ph.D. in International Affairs from the University of Miami. José along with his wife Lily are avid skiers and adventure travelers.  In recent years they have climbed Grand Teton in Wyoming, trekked Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania and Machu Pichu in Peru.  They have also hiked in Tibet and in the Himalayas to Mt. Everest Base Camp. They cycled St. James Way (El Camino de Santiago de Compostela) and cycled alongside the Danube from Germany to Hungary. They have scuba dived in the Bay Islands off the Honduran coast and in the Galapagos Islands. Their adventurers are normally dedicated to raise funds for causes that are dear to them.  Watch Joe & Lily summit Kilimanjaro. Books by Dr. José Azel "Liberty for beginners is much more than what the title promises. It is eighty themes touched with the wisdom of a master, and the charm of an excellent communicator. Anyone that wishes to understand why countries do, or do not progress, will find in this book the best explanations. If it was in my power, this work would be required reading for all college and university students, and I would recommend its reading to politicians, journalists, and policymakers. With this book Azel accomplishes what was achieved in France by Frédéric Bastiat, and in the United States by Henry Hazlitt: brings together common sense with intelligent observation, and academic substance. Stupendous" Carlos Alberto Montaner Buy Now "Libertad para novatos es mucho más de lo que promete el título. Son ochenta temas tocados con la sabiduría de un maestro y la amenidad de un excelente comunicador. Cualquier adulto que desee saber por qué progresan o se estancan los pueblos aquí encontrará las mejores explicaciones. Si estuviera en mis manos, esta obra sería lectura obligatoria de todos los estudiantes, tanto de bachillerato como universitarios, pero, además, se la recomendaría a todos los políticos y periodistas, a todos los policy makers. Azel logra con este libro lo que Frédéric Bastiat consiguiera en Francia y Henry Hazlitt en Estados Unidos: aunar el sentido común, la observación inteligente y la enjundia académica. Estupendo." Carlos Alberto Montaner Compre Aqui In Reflections on Freedom, José Azel brings together a collection of his columns published in prestigious newspapers.  Each article reveals his heartfelt and personal awareness of the importance of freedom in our lives.  They are his reflections after nearly sixty years of living and learning as a Cuban outside Cuba. In what has become his stylistic trademark, Professor Azel brilliantly introduces complex topics in brief journalistic articles. Buy Now En Reflexiones sobre la libertad José Azel reúne una colección de sus columnas publicadas en prestigiosos periódicos. Cada artículo revela su percepción sincera y personal de la importancia de la libertad en nuestras vidas. Son sus reflexiones después de casi sesenta años viviendo y aprendiendo como cubano fuera de Cuba.  En lo que ha resultado ser característica distintiva de sus artículos, el Profesor Azel introduce con brillantez complejos temas en  breves artículos de carácter periodístico. Compre Aqui Mañana in Cuba is a comprehensive analysis of contemporary Cuba with an incisive perspective of the Cuban frame of mind and its relevancy for Cuba's future. Buy now Pedazos y Vacíos is a collection of poems written in by Dr. Azel in his youth. Poems are in Spanish. Buy now

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