“Good Citizens” in Democratic Hard Times

• Date: 01 January 2022
• DOI: 10.1177/00027162211069729
• Published date: 01 January 2022
• Subject Matter: When Mass Politics Fails to Ensure Democracy

68 ANNALS, AAPSS, 699, January 2022

DOI: 10.1177/00027162211069729

“Good Citizens”

in Democratic

Hard Times

By

SARA WALLACE GOODMAN

1069729ANN THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY“GOOD CITIZENS” IN DEMOCRATIC HARD TIMES

research-article2021

How do citizens define their civic obligation when their

country faces a democratic threat? Do citizens of a

democracy think it is important to uphold liberal demo-

cratic values or to participate in governance? Do they

embrace values that protect democracy, or do they just

protect their political party or “side”? I examine

changes to citizenship norms in the context of demo-

cratic threat using observational data from the United

States, the United Kingdom, and Germany. I compare

trends between 2004 and 2019, which show a weaken-

ing in the consensus of “good citizen” norms.

Specifically, partisans on the Left are more likely to

value diversity, vigilance, and tolerance; while partisans

on the Right become more supportive of values like

obeying the law. These differences are reduced in

consensus-based political systems, but still the conse-

quences are concerning: when the ties of citizenship

norms become weaker, so too does national unity,

which is integral to democratic legitimacy and stability.

Keywords: citizenship norms; obligation; democratic

threat; liberal values; partisanship

Citizenship is the bedrock of democracy.

Citizens acknowledge that their status

comprises rights and responsibilities, but they

disagree over what those rights and responsi-

bilities are. For some, citizenship is a set of

behavioral obligations. For these individuals,

what it means to be a “good citizen” is being

politically active: voting, helping others, maybe

protesting. For others, citizenship is a set of

values. For these individuals, good citizenship

is expressed in a series of commitments to lib-

eral democratic norms: mutual toleration, for-

bearance, accepting diversity, and equality. And

Sara Wallace Goodman is an associate professor of

political science at the University of California, Irvine

(UCI). Her research interests are in citizenship and

national belonging. She is the author of Citizenship in

Hard Times (Cambridge University Press 2021) and

coauthor of the forthcoming Pandemic Politics

(Princeton University Press).

Correspondence: swgood@uci.edu