The Exit vs. Voice Option: Six Cases of Swedish Participation in International Organizations

Abstract

Stålvant, C.-E. The Exit vs. Voice Option: Six Cases of Swedish Participation in Inter national Organizations. Cooperation and Conflict, XI, 1976, 41-56.

Hirschman's well-known dual categories of reaction mechanisms, exit and voice, are challenging and problematic in many ways. In politics one must assume that the exit decision is subordinated to that of voice. It corresponds to the rephrased question: at what point is one more efficient in fighting mistaken policies from without than from within ? However, exit is in itself a twofold phenomenon: exit into and exit from. The choice problem that arises when a new international organization is created, or when an existing one deteriorates, must take into account the weighing of costs and payoffs associated with a decision to enter or to withdraw, or whether not to enter or not to withdraw. The arguments raised in six different situations of Swedish participation in international organizations are elucidated with the help of three patterns of responses: entry, no-forward entry and no-backward entry. The junctures chosen are the UN, the Council of Europe, the OECD, the EEC, the IEA and the IBRD. Overriding principles of funtional content and geographical extension that seem to influence Swedish thinking on such occasions are identified.

Carl-Einar Stålvant, Department of Political Science, University of Stockholm.