Resistance as a Threshold Public Good: Experimental Evidence

This paper provides a new treatment of the problem of group action and political protest. It has two aims (a) to model resistance against state policies as a threshold public good, and (b) to consider legitimacy in terms of how legitimacy considerations affect choice. Experimental evidence suggests that the level of resistance depends on whether the sovereign is legitimated: high claims are rejected independent of legitimacy and low claims are rarely rejected. Moderate claims, however, are more likely rejected if asserted by a legitimated sovereign. The notion of legitimacy may broaden our perception of what influences decision behavior. JEL Classifications: C92, C91, D63.