Public Administration

Journal of Public Administration and Policy Research Vol. 4(2) pp. 23-31 March, 2012 Available online at http://www.academicjournals.org/JPAPR DOI: 10.5897/JPAPR11.049 ISSN 2141-2480 ©2012 Academic Journals

Review

Ethics in Public Administration
D. Radhika
Ph.D. Research Scholar, Post-Graduate and Research Department of Public Administration, Anna Adarsh College for Women, (affiliated to the University of Madras) Chennai-600040, Tamilnadu, India. E-mail: [e-mail].
Accepted 23 February, 2012

The modern world has seen an increase in interest in the areas related to the ethics of the sovereign good. A number of studies have focused on this subject matter and several academicians have exposed a number of ethical and philosophical dilemmas related to the concept of ethics in public administration. Despite the increasing number of studies that have focused on the importance of administrative ethics, there has been very little effort spent on identifying what exactly constitutes the crux of ethics in administration. The objective of this paper is to review the implications of the basic principles of ethics for public administration in the context of new public governance and discuss their impact on different administration imperatives which in turn act as the determinants of ethics in public administration. This review will also focus on the importance of ethics in new governance practices (privatization, decentralization, debureaucratization, devolution of budgets etc.,) with reference to the push and pull of ethics and administration and how ethics mindsets and basic approaches to administration and governance can be changed. Key words: Ethics, public administration, ethical imperatives, ethics and public administration, ethics and morals. INTRODUCTION Since the 1970s there has been a great deal of change associated with the implementation of administrative ethics. These changes have been promoted and motivated by the concept of public

References: Argyriades D (1996). Neutrality and Professionalism in the Public Service. Haile K. Asmeron and Elsa P. Reis (Eds) Democratization and Bureaucratic Neutrality. London. Macmillan, pp. 45-77. Argyriades D (1998). The Role of Civil Society in the Modern State. The Inter. J. Tech. Co-operation, 4: 237-245. Bailey K (1964). Ethics and the Public Service. Publ. Adm. Rev., 24(4): 234-243. Bang HP, Sorensen E (1999). The everyday maker: A new challenge to democratic governance. Adm. Theory Praxis, 31: 325-341. Bossaert D, Demmke C (2005). Main Challenges in the Field of Ethics and Integrity in the EU Member States. Eur. Inst. Publ. Adm., p. 270. Bovens M (1998). The Quest for Responsibility: Accountability and Citizenship in Complex Organizations. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, p. 252. Bruce WM (1994). Ethical People Are Productive People. Publ. Prod. Manage. Rev., 17: 241-252. Bruce WM (1995). How Municipalities in Ten Countries Promote Administrative Ethics. Hong Kong Publ. Adm., 4(1): 55-75. Caiden G (1991). Administrative Reform Comes of Age. Los Angeles: De Gruyter, p. 347. Catlaw TJ (2009). Public Administration and the Lives of Others, Toward an Ethics of Collaboration Administration and Society, 41: 290-312. Chapman B (1959). The Profession of Government. The Public Service in Europe. London, Unwin University Books, p. 64. Cooper LT (2001). The Emergence of Administrative Ethics as a Field of Study in the United States. Handbook of Administrative Ethics, pp. 1-36. Cooper LT (2004) Big Questions in Administrative Ethics: A Need for Focused, Collaborative Effort. Washington D.C., Publ. Adm. Rev., 64(4): 395-407 Denhardt JV, Denhardt RB (2002). The New Public Service: serving, not steering. Publ. Adm. Rev., 60: 549-559. Dimock M (1990). The Restorative Qualities of Citizenship. Publ. Adm. Rev., 50: 21-25. Dobel JP (1990). Integrity in the Public Service. Publ. Adm. Rev., 50: 354-366. Easton D (1953). The Political System. Chicago, University of Chicago Press, p. 189. Gellner E (1996). Conditions of Liberty, Civil Society, and its Rivals. London. Penguin Books, p. 225. Giddens A (1990). The Consequences of Modernity. Stanford University Press, p. 188 Gray CW, Kauffman D (1998). Corruption and Development. Financ. Dev., 35(1): 1-4 Gregory RJ (1999). Social Capital Theory and Administrative Reform. Maintaining Ethical Probity in Public Service. Publ. Adm. Rev., 59: 63-75. Habermas J (1987). The Theory of Communicative Action (1 ed.). London. Heinemann, pp. 85-101. Hart DK (1989). A Partnership in Virtue among All Citizens: The Public Service and Civic Humanism. Publ Adm.. Rev., 49: 101-105. Hart H (1961). The Concept of Law. Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 315. Hegel G (1967). Philosophy of Right translated by T.M. Knox. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 13. Keast R, Mandell M, Brown K, Woolcock G (2004). Network Structures: Working Differently and Changing Expectations. Publ. Adm. Rev., 64(3): 363-371. Lasswell HD (1971). A Preview of Policy Sciences. New York: Elsevier, p. 173. Maesschalk J (2001). Towards an understanding of the impact of new public management reforms on the ethical/unethical behavior of civil servants, a conceptual framework. Paper presented at the 29th ECPR Joint Sessions of Workshops, Grenoble, France. Mouzelis N (1993).Sociological Theory: What went wrong? Cult. Soc., 10(2): 239-253. Ogundiya IS (2010). Corruption: The Bane of Democratic Stability in Nigeria. Current Res. J. Soc. Sci., (2)4: 233-241. Osborne D, Gaebler T (1992). Reinventing Government: How the Entrepreneurial Spirit is transforming the Public Sector. New York: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, p. 405. Ott JS (1989). The Organizational Culture Perspective. Dorsey Press, Chicago, p. 231. Parsons T (1964). Evolutionary Universals in Society. Am. Soc. Rev., (29)3: 339-357 Rhodes RAW (1996). The new governance: Governing without government. Pol. Stud., 44: 652-667. Richardson WD, Nigro LG (1987). Administrative Ethics and Funding Thought. Constitutional Correctives, Honor, and Education. Publ. Adm. Rev., 47: 367-376. Rocha JO (2000). Models of Public Management. Magazine of Public Admin., 1(1): 6-16. Savas ES (2000). Privatization and the New Public Management. Fordham Urban Law Journal (28)5: 1731-1737. Scott WG (1982). Barnard on the Nature of Elitist Responsibility. Public Adm. Rev., 42(3): 197-201. Sorensen E (2002). Democratic theory and network governance. Ad. Theory Praxis, 24: 693-720. Sorensen E (2006). Metagovernance: The changing role of politicians in processes of democratic governance. Am. Rev. Publ. Adm., 36: 98114. Thompson D (1985). The Possibility of Administrative Ethics. Publ. Adm. Rev., 45(5): 555-561. Van WM (1998). Changing Public Sector Values. Garland Publishing, Inc, pp. 699-712 Vlastos G (1991). Socrates. Ironist and Moral Philosopher. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 175.