On Coercion

Coercion occurs when one person threatens to visit some evil or unwanted consequence on another unless that other does or refrains from doing some act in accordance with the coercer’s demands.

The word person in this definition refers either to natural persons—i.e., particular individuals—or to artificial persons, in the Hobbesian sense—i.e., collective or corporate actors such as corporations, churches, labor unions, or governments. Thus, one individual, A, may threaten another, B, with significant harm if B fails to act in accordance with A’s commands. A’s threat, t, constitutes an attempt to coerce B to behave in a certain way. A few examples:

• A holds a gun to B’s head and says, “Your money or your life.”

• The European Union withholds promised funds from the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority (PA), declaring that unless Hamas accedes to certain demands, such as that it recognize Israel’s right to exist and agree to abide by all agreements entered into between the PA and Israel, the funds will not be forthcoming.

• The Roman Catholic Church threatens to excommunicate anyone who divorces his or her spouse.

• A religious community threatens to shun anyone who commits adultery.

• A university threatens tenured faculty members with instant termination if they become involved in amorous relationships with their students.

• A municipality passes an ordinance imposing a fine of two hundred dollars on anyone who parks in bus stops.