The Conscience of a Public Servant Through the Lens of Hannah Arendt

Abstract

This paper explores the moral dilemmas and choices confronting career civil servants in the face of surging autocracy, drawing on the wisdom and insights of Hannah Arendt. Arendt maintains that a healthy, democratic nation-state fundamentally relies on a well-functioning and apolitical administration manned by career public servants. When an authoritarian demands blind loyalty and unquestioning implementation of immoral and illegal policies, the civil servant must decide whether to quit, collaborate or just go along, setting his/her conscience aside. Arendt rejects the notion that civil servants can "work from the inside" to minimize the damage, that they only normalize an evil regime. Based on my experiences as a U.S. diplomat, I disagree and explain how insiders can mitigate excesses, temper policies, bear witness to the regime's crimes and, ultimately, help rebuild institutions. Arendt nonetheless remains a north star for moral action whose writings should be required reading in the training of civil servants.