Government Ethics

Canadian municipalities faced with ethical challenges, as well as the ethically challenged, are at an important juncture. Increased public concern with the conduct of municipal government and administration have led several provinces to change municipal legislation to either reflect new concerns or to allow for the creation of new ethics mechanisms.Ethics regimes encompass different philosophical and social concerns, as well as different practical mechanisms for dealing with ethics problems. This book explores three areas of concern and their associated mechanisms at the local level: integrity, codes of conduct, and ethics and integrity commissioners; lobbying, lobbyist registration and lobbyist registrars; and, administrative justice, administrative justice codes and ombudsmen. Taking a pan-Canadian approach, while being sensitive to varying municipal and local government legislation and frameworks across Canada, this book outlines key features of these regimes and offers practical information for and insight into designing and implementing effective ethics mechanisms at the municipal level.

Ethical concerns are among the most common problems public administrators face, yet the issues are often complex, and the correct choices are not always clear. Living up to the public trust is much more than just an act of compliance. It also involves perceiving, preventing, avoiding, and resolving accusations of illegal or unethical behavior, including appearances of inappropriate behavior. Ethics Moments in Government: Cases and Controversies examines how to identify, assess, and resolve the ethical issues and dilemmas that often confront those who govern the cities, counties, states, and federal agencies throughout America. Real Situations, Real Advice Providing a one-stop resource for all those who must contend with thorny ethical issues, this volume presents case studies that vary in complexity and context and are based on real situations. Each case scenario is followed by discussion questions and case assessments by expert practitioners who describe how they would handle the situation. Using a "total immersion" technique, the book encourages readers to be reflexive and analytical in addressing the problems presented and arriving at appropriate solutions. A supplemental CD is included which contains PowerPoint® slide presentations, articles, workshop programs, tests, and links to organizations. For many of the scenarios presented in this volume, there are no easy answers. Practical guidance on reasoning through difficult decision-making situations enables public administrators to acquire the ethical knowledge, skills, abilities, and instincts that will ultimately help them gain the trust of their citizens and advance in their careers.

Recognizing that the quality of governance is a crucial factor in the overall development of a country, experts on government ethics and law enforcement examine the principles that need to be applied to create more effective and efficient governments. While focusing on the approaches adopted by the City of New York, case studies from around the world are also given. As the essays make clear, it is difficult to over estimate the importance of authorities to set proper ethical standards and regulations while operating on the basis of transparency, predictability, and accountability. An important resource for scholars, researchers, and policy makers involved with public administration issues.

At a time when there is a growing consensus among governments on what should constitute the essential elements of an effective and comprehensive ethics strategy, this OECD report constitutes a unique source of comparative information on ethics management measures in OECD countries.

"Ethics and Public Administration" refutes the arguments that administrative ethics cannot be studied in an empirical manner and that empirical analysis can deal only with the trivial issues in administrative ethics. Within a theoretical perspective,the authors qualify their findings and take care not to over-generalise results. The findings are relevant to the practice of public administration. Specific areas addressed include understanding public corruption, ethics as control, and ethics as administration and policy

In political theory, the traditional model of state power was that elected officials make policy decisions which are then faithfully executed by a lower cadre of public servants. The complexity of the modern state, however, leaves this model outdated. The vast number of economic and social problems it confronts is such that a great deal of rule-making power is now delegated to a class of civil servants. Yet many political philosophers have not taken this model up, and the field has ignored the important role played by the class of "permanent" state officials--the "deep state" as some call it--in liberal states. In most liberal democracies for example, the central bank is as independent as the supreme court, yet deals with a wide range of economic, social, and political issues. How do these public servants make these policy decisions? What normative principles inform their judgments? In The Machinery of Government, Joseph Heath attempts to answer these questions. He looks to the actual practice of public administration to see how normative questions are addressed. More broadly, he attempts to provide the outlines of a "philosophy of the executive" by taking seriously the claim to political authority of the most neglected of the three branches of the state. Heath both provides a corrective to the prevailing tendency to underestimate the contribution of civil servants to the success of liberal-democratic welfare states, and suggests a more satisfactory account of the principles implicit in public administration.

This book is unique source of comparative information on ethics management measures in governments of OECD countries.

Why are Canadians concerned about the ethical conduct of government officials in the 1990s? Does patronage still have a legitimate role in politics? What do we mean by conflict of interest? Can a government be both effective and clean? This book probes these questions of patronage, government secrecy, political party financing, conflict of interest, and the private lives of public officials by examining the impact of public officials' behaviour on the quality of Canadian democracy.To compare government ethics in different communities, Langford and Tupper commissioned essays on the federal and provincial experience in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, and Nova Scotia. There are also unique perspectives on aboriginal government communities, cities, and small towns. This book examines the meaning of public sector ethics and offers an assessment of several reform proposals. It provides a framework for assessing government ethics in the turbulent politics of the 1990s.