The moral roles of democratically elected politicians and civil servants

According to a classic democratic ideal, citizens and politicians ought to define the political aims of a community, while neutral experts and bureaucrats ought to devise the means with which to achieve these aims. The present paper re-examines the ideal division of labor between politicians and civil servants in a democracy and discusses when divergence from the ideal in the form of dissent is justified. The paper develops an account of the roles and responsibilities of civil servants and elected politicians in a democracy, taking as its point of departure the idea that these roles should be shaped so as to realize the values of autonomy, equality and justice that underpin them.