Populist attitudes among civil servants: A source of liberal robustness?

This study examines civil servants’ normative orientations toward democracy, focusing on the absence of populist attitudes as a potential source of resilience against democratic backsliding in public administration. Drawing on the concept of democratic anchoring, we expect civil servants and public sector employees to display lower levels of populism than their private-sector counterparts. Panel data from Germany confirm this expectation and show that the public/private sector gap in populist attitudes persists despite an overall increase in populism between 2021 and 2023. A complementary cross-national analysis of 16 democratic states reveals robust evidence for such a gap only in Germany and Austria. Both countries witnessed the collapse of constitutionally fully developed interwar democracies. We discuss whether the experience of a democratic breakdown may have left a lasting imprint on civil servants’ democratic attitudes in these countries. We further discuss how such imprints may shape behaviors that support administrative resilience against illiberal threats. Points for practitioners Only in Germany and Austria do civil servants exhibit systematically lower populist attitudes than private-sector employees, indicating that the public workforce could function as a source of democratic resilience. However, populist attitudes are increasing overall, including within the public sector, highlighting the importance of democratic education and training. Strengthening collective and protected channels for expressing reservations about illiberal political demands could help civil servants respond more effectively and confidently.