Citizens’ duty to effectively resist populist parties

Abstract This article discusses the respective rights and duties of citizens and civil servants to form alliances to counter populist parties in and out of government. It argues that civil servants under certain circumstances have a stronger role-specific responsibility to protect democratic rights and institutions than citizens in general. It also shows that the general requirement for actions undertaken to defend or restore democratic rights and institutions to be effective depends on how non-ideal circumstances are in terms of non-compliance with democratic principles and whether a course of action entails the violation of democratic rights. More broadly, the article demonstrates the need to combine empirical studies with normative theory to formulate legitimate responses to the populist challenge to democracy, as well as the difficulty of doing so.