In the Ethics of Dissent: Managing Guerrilla Government (2006) by Rosemary O’Leary, guerrilla government is the defined as the process in which government employees opening and secretly dissent from policies. As discussed in class, bureaucrats make policy through the exercise of discretion and when ethics, bureaucratic politics, and organization and management are combined, things will not fit well and will eventually become distorted. Public administrators like the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), has faced numerous of challenges, obstacles, and transitions in their department. In this paper, I will examine the ways in which EPA’s administrators during Regan era worked behind the scenes to use their power of discretion for personal …show more content…
For example, Spencer ordered EPA Staff to release confidential information to a private organization, but EPA officials were reluctant to relinquish the information to outsiders (O’Leary, p.52). This is another ethical dilemma about truth vs loyalty that caused EPA officials to questioned Spencer motives to the Inspect General Office after he resigns from his job, and accepts another job at a private industry. Was Spencer right to give out confidential business information to secure a better job or should he have concealed his knowledge of business dealings in the agency? Fear was all over the workplace and nobody did not trust Spencer. He was then later investigated by the EPA’S Office of the Inspector General. Those who confronted spencer directly had been reassigned or demoted and some staff members did not trust the inspector general as well (O’Leary, p.54). Staff members feared to leak information to the press because it was better to solve matters inside the organization. The only thing EPA officials could do was to wait for Spencer to eventually hang or self-destruct himself since it was nearly impossible for the inspector general to discipline him for his
The power of executive privilege has been extremely controversial since basically the beginning of the United States as a democratic government. Many saw this power come into a greater public focus particularly during the Nixon presidency and the infamous Watergate Scandal, but the theory and use of executive privilege existed long before Nixon. As in true American fashion, some argue in favor of executive privilege, while others view it in a more negative light. The intense controversy is what makes executive privilege so intriguing to review in a deeper and more in depth analysis. The theory of executive privilege has derived its power throughout evolution of time, a series of presidencies, and quite a few pinpointed circumstances resulting in some very notorious court cases.
Casamayou, Maureen. “The Columbia Accident.” Public Administration: Concepts and Cases. Stillman, Richard Joseph. Boston, MA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2010. 105-114.
Sharp, B., Aguirre, G., & Kickham, K. (Eds.) (2011). Managing in the Public Sector: A Casebook in Ethics and Leadership. Boston: Longman.
Historical interpretations relating to small wars in the post Napoleonic period in relation to insurgent guerrilla warfare in urban and agrarian societies across the globe share universal themes. These commonalities will be explored relating why combatants in guerrilla warfare fight. Moreover, what objectives guerrilla leaders wanted to achieve with their theories of social revolution. The works discussed are Mao Tse-tung, On Guerrilla Warfare, Ernesto Che Guevara, Guerilla Warfare, and Carlos Marighella, Minimanual of The Urban Guerrilla. All three of these historical leaders were well-educated men who were social reformers. All concerned with inequalities among their people. All devised ways to wage class warfare within their society and around the world.
1. Bovard, James. Feeling Your Pain: The Explosion and Abuse of Government Power in the Clinton-Gore Years. New York: St. Martin’s, 2000
“Faced with what is right, to leave it undone shows a lack of courage” (Confucius Quotes, 2012). The person who does her duty, at great risk to her own interest, when most others would defy from fear is considered a hero (Schafer, 2004). Dr. Nancy Olivieri is a hero who blew the whistle on Apotex, University of Toronto (U of T) and the Hospital for Sick Children (HSC); and fought for her academic rights till the end. Whistle-blowing refers to actions of an employee that breach her loyalty to the organization but serves the public interest. When other constraints proved to be ineffective, whistle-blowing acts as a check on authority of the organization. Whistle-blowers expose severe forms of corruption, waste, and abuse of power within their organization and put the organization in a position where it is answerable to the public, thus enhancing its accountability (Cooper, 2006, pg. 198-205).
From 1965 to 1973, the United States military sent over 536,000 combat troops into the jungles, villages, and swamps of Vietnam. Of these 536,000, over 58,000 men would never return. Despite air superiority, artillery, and the most technologically advanced armed forces in the world, the United States slumped to defeat by the hands of both their enemy and themselves. Unpreventably so, the United States of America was defeated in Vietnam due egregious errors in political and military judgment, lack of popular support and an extreme unpreparedness to fight the Vietcong and North Vietnamese in a guerilla war.
In the field of Public Administration there is a highly-defined structure of constitutional, legal, and procedural requirements that are in place to keep those in power in check. That being said, no matter how stringent the oversight, or how well-meaning the intentions of those who serve, Public Service is a complicated field with many landmines to navigate. As the Iran-Contra Affair illustrates, duties, orders, and responsibilities and can easily conflict with each other because there are so many areas of
In “Constitutional Democracy and Bureaucratic Power,” Peter Woll states that our system of government, “. . in many ways supported bureaucratic organization and functions independent of the president,” (311). According to Woll, the Framers intended to establish an independent bureaucracy, as they gave Congress substantial power over the administrative “branch.” However, because of the bureaucracy’s independence, Woll asserts that, though he possesses the authority, the president often lacks the power to control the bureaucracy. Naturally, this can lead to the corruption and inefficiency of the administrative process. Also contributing to this inefficiency and corruption, is the very nature of the bureaucracy itself. By definition, a bureaucracy is a “large, complex organization of appointed officials,” (“American Government: Institutions and Politics”); this inherent complexity causes many of the issues of bureaucracy. In discussing bureaucratic agencies’ budgets, James Wilson claims that “. . since measuring the output of a bureau is often difficult. . .the bureau has a great deal of freedom within which to seek the largest possible budget,” (“The Rise of the Bureaucratic State”, Wilson). Essentially, the vastness of each bureaucratic agency makes close scrutiny a time consuming and futile effort. Additionally, Woll contends that “. . the three branches do not always use to the fullest extent their authority to regulate the bureaucracy,” (“Constitutional Democracy and Bureaucratic Power”, 314). This assertion suggests that perhaps the source of the bureaucracy’s problems lie, not within the institution itself, but within the reluctance of the other branches of government to regulate it. Wilson proffers another explanation for the bureaucracy’s inefficiency in his scrutiny of the USPS, arguing that
The act of whistle-blowing is an ethical issue that all employees have the right to. Whether they decide to make the corrupt information known publicly or anonymously, the information they provide can protect everyone involved. The ethical and moral sides of whistle-blowing can go both ways. In order to protect the customers, patients, or consumers of the harmful products the companies are offering, employees that have morals and feel the need to make the truth be known have an ethical responsibility to do so. Issues of being a whistle-blower are more controversial than the responsibilities of the employees doing so. When a whistle-blower takes action, they expose information from their company that it not meant to be public. They basically turn their backs away from their company and colleagues by revealing the truth. When surveying these issues, an employee who is torn by exposing information or keeping silent must decide whether it is more ethical to stay loyal to their organization or to the organization's
Public administrators face extraordinary pressure to operate in manner that is accepted by Americans. This is an impossible task forces administrator to act in ways that may lead to unethical decisions, abuse of power or misuse of public assets, which leads down the path of illegitimacy. America is a country of free choice that is contrary to government mission of deciding what is best for Americans. Until government is decentralized and stripped of its vast authority as seen through the lens of the Constitution, a negative pub perception of government will continue to exist.
Woodrow Wilson’s purpose in writing “The Study of Administration” is to bring awareness that the government systems in place need to be re-evaluated and improved. Wilson encourages we need to examine the history of administration set forth by others in determining certain needs to be accomplished in effective ways and methods. Wilson’s desirable outcomes for research within the public administration field are for government systems to become more productive and organized.
The Vietnam War was a brutal and bloody conflict that took the lives of more than fifty-eight thousand American soldiers and an estimated two million Vietnamese soldiers and civilians. In addition, air bombings, mortar attacks, and gun battles destroyed countless forests, farmlands, villages, and city neighborhoods in both North and South Vietnam. As the war progressed, it also took a great emotional toll on its American and Vietnamese participants as they struggled to keep themselves, their comrades, and—in the case of Vietnamese civilians—their families alive.
John Rohr views on Democratic Morality and the Administrative Law and how these laws affect the organizations. Democratic Morality deals with the issue that large organizations will have more control or influence on the development of policy. The Administrative law is concern with the legal aspect of the organization and the fairness across the board. The author examines the administrative law of democratic morality between the periods of 1800s and 1900s, with emphasis on the how democratic morality was used to bring about changes in the organizations. The author point is that bureaucrats who deal with policies should look to the Supreme Court for guidance on the constitution. It is important to understand the constitution and be able to explain why the attack on separation of powers in Congressional Government calls for changes in amendments to the constitution of the United States. The democratic morality policies as it relates to the law are constructed around the perspective of democratic responsiveness, public opinion, citizens, religious, and partisanship affect adoption of policy; these policies will include the U.S. Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has a profound effect on policy-making in America.
Egoism focuses on what is best for one’s self. The top executives may have followed this ethics system because they made millions of dollars off of the Enron scandal even though they knew what they were doing was wrong. Since they were doing what was best for them, they must have been acting ethically. It could also be argued that utilitarianism was at work in regards to the Enron scandal. Utilitarianism holds that an action is ethical if it does the greatest amount of good for the greatest number of people. The end justifies the means. By manipulating their statements, Enron was helping all of their employees and shareholders to keep their jobs and money. This justified and made their choice to lie on their statements the ethical decision to