The Management of Ideals: A Political Perspective on Ethics
Author(s)
Denhardt, Kathryn G.
Abstract
Both bureaucratic and democratic ideals are essential elements of the public administration ethos, yet these two sets of ideals have not been effectively integrated in an ethic of public administration. Ethics has been approached primarily from a rule-oriented bureaucratic perspective that gives little guidance to administrators who wish to promote democratic ideals and function ethically in an increasingly political administrative role. This article suggests that ethics can be approached, instead from a political perspective that recognizes public administrators as political authorities legitimated and constrained by the same belief system that legitimates and constrains elected and judicial officials. Approaching ethics from a political perspective permits administrators to pursue democratic ideals by exercising political judgment and participating in the political process of policy making. At the same time, a political ethic of public administration establishes constraints on such administrative activity through a recognition that bureaucratic values are essential to the legitimacy of public administration. Therefore, active involvement in the political environment is ethical only in the pursuit of democratic values and only if it does not undermine the legitimacy of public administration.
