Are Civil Servants Guardians of Liberal Democracy? Attitudinal Evidence from Citizens, Politicians, and Civil Servants

Are civil servants guardians of liberal democracy, or do their democratic commitments simply mirror those of citizens and elected politicians? Amid growing concerns about executive aggrandizement and democratic erosion, scholars increasingly view bureaucracies as potential bulwarks against backsliding. Yet systematic data on civil servants’ democratic attitudes have been scarce, leaving open questions about whether they strongly support liberal-democratic principles—especially executive constraints and civil liberties—and whether this support is less ideologically driven than among citizens or politicians. This paper addresses this gap by comparing democratic attitudes among citizens, elected politicians, and ministerial civil servants using original Finnish survey data: a probability-based citizen sample (N = 2,182) and census surveys of political and administrative elites (politicians N = 1,719; civil servants N = 1,385). Using fifteen items adapted from Claassen et al. (2024), we measure support for four dimensions of democracy: executive constraints, civil liberties, core electoral norms, and opposition to technocratic governance. We assess attitudinal congruence across groups and estimate differences with pooled regression models that adjust for demographics and ideology, examining whether ideological effects vary by group. Preliminary findings reveal domain-specific patterns. Civil servants consistently express stronger support for executive constraints and civil liberties than citizens and, in several cases, elected politicians—partially confirming the notion of bureaucrats as guardians of liberal-democratic safeguards. However, they do not show stronger support for core electoral norms than citizens, and while their rejection of technocratic rule does not exceed that of politicians, it remains higher than among citizens. These differences persist after covariate adjustments, indicating they are not driven by compositional factors. Overall, support for electoral democracy is high across all groups. Civil servants stand out for their stronger endorsement of specific liberal-democratic features. Beyond establishing these baseline attitudes, the civil servant data enable exploration of heterogeneity linked to public-service motivation, professional autonomy, and perceived politicization, helping to identify individual and contextual conditions under which civil servants express attitudes consistent with democratic resilience.