How Much Is Really Known About the Meaning of the Term “Conflict of Interest”?

Often codes of ethics require dealing with conflict of interest (CoI) without defining the boundaries of the phenomenon. In this case, CoI recognition is left to the discretion of the individual. The aim of this work is to answer to the following research questions: How much is really known about the meaning of the term CoI? Do individuals share the same CoI definition? In order to address these questions, we use the results of a questionnaire administered to 86 Italian public sector employees during some training courses on conflict of interest and corruption. The choice of this sample is particularly significant in that the Italian regulation provides for all public employees a code of conduct that requests avoiding, or at least disclosing, the CoI without prior definition of the meaning of the term. The results of our analysis show that public employees are uncertain about or come to different considerations of what CoI is and is not; consequently they deal with it in different ways. Thus, codes of conduct and ethics trainers should direct more attention on CoI definition, providing examples to facilitate its identification and resolution.     

Effectiveness of Ethics Codes in the Public Sphere: Are They Useful in Controlling Corruption?

This study aims at determining the real effect of the implementation of a code of ethics on the solution of ethical problems in the public sphere, considering corruption as the most important non-ethical behavior. With that aim, 154 national administrations whose information on ethical codes is available on the UN's website are analyzed.

Our findings stress the absence of any influence of codes on corruption problems in the public context, both in developed and developing countries. The level of education is the most important determining factor in the control of corruption, especially in developing countries.     

Proto-norms and global media ethics

Abstract

Normativity is a problem of modernity. Relativism has emerged with the negation of moral universals. Clifford Christians consistently argues for the concept of proto-norms as a workable basis for normative ethics applied to media practices that operate on a global scale. Christians declares philosopher Charles Taylor to lie in the background of his theorising, but seldom gives a hint as to how Taylor’s thought influences his own. There appears to be sufficient congruence between Christians’ thinking about proto-norms and the articulation of hypergoods, strong evaluation and persons in Taylor’s philosophical anthropology to consider this to be the influence, among other sources Christians draws on. Of particular interest is Taylor’s insistence that persons always exist in normative moral space as an inescapable horizon of existence. The article explores some aspects of Taylor’s thought that may shed light on what proto-norms are and how they may be applied in the quest for a viable global media ethics in an age when moral relativism seems to be the media's only ethical principle.     

行政伦理视角下我国反腐败问题分析

进入新世纪以来,我国行政腐败现象频繁发生,而且发生的领域越来越广,层级越来越高,给国家和社会造成了巨大损失,在当前形势下,积极探索反腐败的对策十分必要。文章分析了行政伦理在反腐败中发挥的作用,研究了行政伦理视角下我国反腐败的现状和存在的问题,并提出了反腐败的新途径。     

When Should the Police Investigate Cases of Non-recent Child Sexual Abuse?

Non-recent child sexual abuse (CSA) and child sexual exploitation (CSE) have received recent attention. Victims often do not report their ordeal at the time the incident occurred, and it is increasingly common for agencies to refer concerns to the police years, or decades, after the event. The combination of the non-recent nature of the offence, the lack of engagement by the (potentially vulnerable) victim, and the huge resource burden of investigation make deciding whether to proceed with investigation complex and ethically challenging. Although there will always be a presumption in favor of investigation, for some cases the reasons against investigating will outweigh this presumption. We examine the considerations at stake in making a decision about whether to make contact with the victim and proceed with investigating a particular non-recent CSA case. Arguing for a “broad rights” approach, we identify considerations relating to (1) the victim, (2) criminal justice and crime prevention, (3) limited resources, and (4) legitimacy. We argue that, all other things being equal, non-recent and current investigations are equally worthy of investigation. We assess the implications of suspects being persons of public prominence. We outline a principled decision-making framework to aid investigators. The Oxford CSA Framework has the potential to reduce unnecessary demand on police resources.     

Judges who drive under the influence of alcohol: ethical implications and the role of restorative justice measures to balance judicial duty and societal expectations

Judges across the US have been charged or convicted of driving while intoxicated, yet many judges are allowed to continue to practice despite their criminal act(s). The issue becomes not only a societal issue, but also an ethical and professional one which impacts the individual criminal justice practitioner and criminal justice agencies. Duty to judicial and social expectations informs an argument regarding ethical theories: deontology and utilitarianism. Solutions include an examination of restorative justice measures such as: a balance of service to the community such as participating in victim-offender mediation and victim-offender panels as the offender, and completing community service where the victim chooses the judges number of hours and location of the service. While some may believe these jurists should suffer punitive punishments such as loss of judgeships, long-term treatment, and extensive probation coupled with individual psychiatric therapy, consideration of all factors with restoration in mind, might be more appropriate for these judicial offenders.     

The Effect of Personal Idealism,Relativism, and Machiavellianism on Voting Tendency: A Turkish Study

This study examined the relationship between Turkish voters’ ethical characteristics and voting tendencies to the political left, right, or center by applying the Ethics Position Questionnaire (EPQ) and Mach IV to the collection of data for analysis from 500 voters in a national election in Turkey. The most significant finding is that there was no statistically meaningful relationship among levels of idealism, relativism, or Machiavellianism and voting tendencies to the political left, right, and center. However, results generated by EPQ and Mach IV questionnaire found that voting tendencies were affected by personal relativism (0.10), followed by Machiavellianism (?0.03) and idealism (?0.03). Results show that respondents’ voting tendency was most affected by the level of their personal relativism, but the magnitude of the effect was not statistically significant. The mean scores for Machiavellianism and relativism attributes were on average in the mid-range of the scale, while mean scores for idealism show that the participating voters agreed most strongly with the statements relating to the idealism and could be characterized as absolutist by their low relativism and high idealism. The results demonstrate a positive linear relationship, linking both idealism and relativism to Machiavellianism and indicate statistically significant positive correlations among the three variables.     

“泛法制主义”的困境与救赎

中国社会的文化惯性导致了从传统＂泛道德主义＂的乌托邦走向了＂泛法治主义＂新的乌托邦,对法制的过分依赖与迷信使得法律职业伦理与社会公理渐行渐远。法律职业伦理面临着路径选择的难题,法治社会无法离开社会伦理的支撑与制约,从小众化回归以社会公理为表征的大众社会伦理,强化法律职业伦理的教养与修养,是法律职业伦理的恰当选择。     

制度伦理视域中新时期党风廉政建设的革新

我国廉政建设走过了令人瞩目的光辉历程,制度在道德意识和伦理精神的指引下实现了良性的成长。然而在新形势下廉政建设亦开始遭遇新的伦理困境。目前,促进廉政制度的完善应该重在对制度伦理的确定,促成法规与道德的统一,并使之上升为全社会的制度价值原则。     

荒政之行政伦理与传统国家（State）公共价值生成——基于“官僚制实践困境”命题中的行政伦理

就传统国家公共价值生成所必需的＂制度设计＂而论,社会公共事务治理——如荒政——之所以是传统国家公共价值生成之路径依赖,其根因即在于此类公共行政内在之行政伦理能够转换为公共价值。此行政伦理从官僚制生长的政治、社会、组织与管理背景揭示了传统国家能够生成公共价值及其官僚体制能依此价值实现演进之内在道德根据。在学理上,它关涉是否能在＂重塑政府与社会关系＂或＂在社会成长中再造政府＂的过程中重新定义政府（国家）,使政治和价值问题再度回到公共行政的核心位置。