ABSTRACT
The democratic ideal has had a chequered existence. Centuries of discourse on the nature of democracy, and on the bulwarks necessary to sustain it, have done little in western countries to prevent the emergence of a situation in which the voices of the most determined of special interest groups prove to be the most audible in the corridors of power. An anguishing moral problem emerges, however, when the state is exposed to influences, seemingly from some of its own citizens, which have the effect of putting at risk the liberties of their fellows. In the light of the preliminary distinctions, it is now possible to outline central questions which the existence of fellow travellers, dupes, rogues, and agents of influence throws up. The more difficult problems arise when one seeks to identify appropriate responses from the state to the activities of agents of influence, dupes, rogues and fellow travellers.
