Integrity in public administration: doubtful practical value of ethical and philosophical categories in preventing corruption (on the example of the public integrity council activity)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.34132/pard2023.22.09Keywords:
Integrity, prevention of corruption, judicial system, judicial reform, Public Integrity Council, qualification evaluation.Abstract
There has been tried in the article to systemize various approaches to the concept of integrity (in Ukrainian literally – kind-honesty), which is relatively new to the science of public administration, and to find out the sources and reasons for its appearance. A brief linguistic analysis of the integrity definitions contained in Ukrainian- and English-language sources has been carried out. There has been analyzed a variety of numerous definitions of the integrity concept, both ethical and philosophical, and normative and legal as well. A historical excursion has been made to prove rapid evolution of integrity criteria. There has been emphasized that the criteria of integrity in many cases are perceived exceptionally at an intuitive level, often being manipulative and unstable, depend on the person of evaluator and may differ even within small social groups. There has been cast doubt on the expedience of including changing ethical and philosophical categories in the national legislation and establishing legal liability for their non-observance. Based on the Public Integrity Council activity during the qualification evaluation of judges through the judicial reform of 2016-2019 and unsuccessful attempts to resume this procedure in 2023, practical problems in the evaluation of integrity criteria and subjectivity in approaches to such evaluation have been highlighted. There has been attempted to find out the practical value of integrity category in preventing corruption. The indisputable obligation of exclusive morality and ethics of those who are responsible for evaluating the public officials’ integrity has been emphasized. There has been demonstrated an example when mistrust to evaluators, their arbitrary and destructive application of moral criteria, placed in the legal sphere, cause personnel turbulence and public servants’ reluctance to continue their professional careers in conditions of uncertainty, what leads to the public administration mechanism disbalance. There has been suggested during the further modernization of the institute of public service in Ukraine and introduction of new anti-corruption mechanisms to avoid borrowing such categories that are not typical to the national context.
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