The core devs have implemented a “difficulty bomb” in order to pressure the community to adopt their changes. If you don’t accept their hard forks you will stuck operating on a chain where you can’t mint new blocks.

It’s not quite force or coercion but it’s something close. It allows the Ethereum team to operate similar to a software company and retain tight control over the so called decentralized network.

This is a primary example of why many people argue that Ethereum operates more like a security.