A General Framework for the Ethics of Public Administration

Abstract It is generally understood that civil servants, in carrying out their work, should be committed to promoting the “public interest” or the “common good.” This ideal, however, is too abstract to serve as a practical guide without further institutional specification. This chapter examines three different models of public-sector ethics, based on different ways of institutionalizing this commitment to the public interest: hierarchical, populist, and vocational. A critical survey of the strengths and weaknesses of each model is presented, leading to a qualified endorsement of the vocational model.