It is natural to think that once repression exercised by dictatorship crosses a certain threshold of severity, those subjected to repression are not under a moral requirement to engage in public opposition – neither through individual action nor through attempts at collective action (given that it is precisely collective action that is often the focus of the dictatorship’s repressive efforts). Nili aims to explain why we can only obtain a complete picture of the perils inherent in dictatorship if we are alert to the existence of this threshold – wherever we may precisely choose to place it. Such alertness, he argues, matters not only for our philosophical reflection, but also for our practical judgements as to how to deal with the dangers of dictatorship.
A lecture by Shmulik Nili, assistant professor of political science, Northwestern University, and research fellow, Research School of the Social Sciences, Australian National University.
Sponsored by the Kellogg Institute for International Studies.