The paper discusses the respective rights and duties of citizens and civil servants forming 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 that their course of action undertaken to defend or restore the democratic rights and institutions be effective depends on how non-ideal circumstances are in terms of the non-compliance with democratic principles and whether their course of action falls within the remit of democratic rights or not. More broadly, the paper demonstrates the need to combine empirical studies with normative theory to formulate legitimate responses to the populist challenge to democracy.
