Citizens’ Culpability and Responsibility for States’ Actions

This chapter returns to the outstanding issue of whether citizens might have responsibility for what their states do in a weaker form than culpability. That is to say, even if they are not members of the collective agent that is the state, they might nonetheless come to have responsibilities for what it does. In the first part of the chapter, the focus is on whether weak collective agency can support collective culpability, and it is argued, through a thought experiment in three variations, that it cannot. In the second part of the chapter, the focus is on alternatives to culpability, including complicity, association, benefit, privilege, and assistance. Difficulties with some of these are noted, but it is argued that there may yet be responsibilities from several of these sources, particular when there are ‘culpability shortfalls’.