Democracy, Disobedience, and Accountability

Many authors raise a democratic worry about the use of force and violence in protest. Protestors who rely on force or violence, the thought goes, do not attempt to win majority support for their position but instead attempt to directly bring about a political outcome by making the alternative more costly. Thus, the use of force and violence in protest may seem tantamount to forcing one’s views on others. This paper provides an alternative rationale for force and violence by presenting a theory of protest as a form of holding others accountable. When we hold others accountable interpersonally, we often use burdensome treatment to communicate with them about their conduct, but we do not try to force them to behave as we wish. In the same way, I argue, protestors may use force and violence to make a moral appeal to their audience without acting undemocratically.