Civic duties are essentially the ways in which citizens agree to abide by the rules and to contribute to the life of a national society.

About Simon Reid-Henry
“I am a research professor at the Peace Research Institute, Oslo, an honorary professor of historical and political geography at Queen Mary, University of London, a civil society advocate and a writer. I am a 2011 Philip Leverhulme Prize Winner.
My research applies an interdisciplinary focus to the making and application of political, economic, technical and legal forms of knowledge and their consequences for political thought and practice. My work has been recognized for its methodological innovation, conceptual rigour, and empirical breadth via a number of academic fellowships and awards.”

Key Points
• The pandemic revived the language of civic duty as governments asked citizens to act for the common good, offering a lens to study how collective action is mobilised.
• Comparative research in France, Norway and the UK shows that civic duty is culturally framed and shaped citizens’ compliance.
• Lockdowns exposed the constant negotiation in liberal democracies between collective needs and individual freedoms, demonstrating that obedience relies on persuasion more than coercion.
• Global disparities in vaccine access highlighted how duties operate at multiple scales, underscoring the need for shared responsibility to tackle future crises such as climate change.