Ethical Perspective on Administrative Responsibility: On the Moral Responsibility of Public Administrators

Author: Liu Xuefeng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-10-20
Features: It is widely acknowledged that public administrators bear positional responsibilities. However, there is no consensus on whether public administrators have moral responsibilities and what kind of moral responsibilities they should undertake. In the historical development of administration, the discussion on whether administrative personnel have moral responsibilities has gone through three major stages, marked by the boundary of administrative and political dichotomy and the reflection on this dichotomy. During the period of administrative and political dichotomy, administrative personnel were considered value-neutral and merely "instrumental" parts of the administrative machine. However, the reality of administration forces people to reflect on the moral responsibilities of administrative personnel. Why should public administrators have moral responsibilities? Public administrators are not only subjects of value choices but also face a sharp contradiction between "publicness" and "privateness." Moral responsibility is not a type of responsibility but a moral evaluation of responsibility. It is crucial to determine which responsibilities can become moral responsibilities and how to divide them, as this lays an important premise for promoting the realization of moral responsibilities of public administrators. When distinguishing between subjective moral responsibility and objective moral responsibility, predecessors faced dilemmas. The lessons from the past lead us to shift to distinguishing the moral responsibilities of public administrators between obligatory moral responsibility and ideal moral responsibility. This approach ensures the fulfillment of basic moral responsibilities while also promoting the continuous development of moral responsibilities. The realization of moral responsibilities of public administrators is the materialization of moral responsibilities. In this process, public administrators are filled with confusion regarding the roles, objects, basis, and orientation of moral responsibility realization, as well as objective technical obstacles such as the pluralistic structure of power sources, the counter-function of bureaucracy in power settings, and the free flexibility of power exercise. These may lead to ethical compromises among public administrators.