Reflective public administration – Ethics

Product Description

Reflective Public Administration: Ethics is the contribution to the two-part series on an updated approach to the first edition, Reflective Public Administration: Views from the South. The editors, Wessels, Pauw and Thani, present this topic as a reflection on issues such as conduct of public officials, budgets, affirmative action, and the responsibilities of the executive authority from an ethical perspective. This title is applicable to practitioners, academics and philosophers interested in the ethical debate regarding public administration. This volume reflects specifically on five prominent ethical issues in public administration: Reflection 1: Ethics for public administration and management in the twenty-first century Issues such as human rights, a shrinking globe, an information glut, and the importance of morality in public administration and management are discussed against the backdrop of democracy. Reflection 2: Professional ethics from day to day: A practitioner’s reflection: The discussion is limited here to the essential activities of essential public institutions from a practitioner’s perspective. The question of essential public activities and public institutions is also taken into account. Reflection 3: Ethics and budgets: This reflection shows that budget decisions are not only economic, but moral as well. Therefore, public budgets are amenable to ethical analysis. This unique Reflection provides pointers for such analysis. Reflection 4: The ethics of transformation and a representative public service: A conceptual framework is provided as an instrument to untangle the major transformation-related concepts in the public service and to determine whether equality can be achieved for all members of the diverse South African society under this condition. Reflection 5: The ethics of ministerial responsibility to Parliament: Ministerial responsibility to Parliament is highlighted through the examination of the Sarafina 2 case where fourteen million rand was allegedly misused.