@phillmv @Rickperlstein no state can function without the credible threat of violence. the best states function in such a way that the threat of violence is rare and distant. no coalition member can have influence without the threat of exit. but coalitions function best when the assumption is it won't come to that, and negotiate in good faith so that it doesn't. in a marriage one doesn't frequently threaten divorce, although the existence of the possibility may discipline both parties. 1/

@phillmv @Rickperlstein in US politics, i think Bernie Sanders is an exemplar here. on the one hand, he never overtly threatened, after shitlibs moved heaven and earth to defeat him, to quit the party and take his voters with him. on the other hand, he and Biden negotiated a settlement, under which Biden became in domestic economic matters the best US president since LBJ. the threat of defection was always present in those negotiations, but i suspect tacitly rather than wielded as a cudgel./fin