What is essential is that we respond to the existing climate by making more efforts than in the past to be, and to be seen to be, men and women of integrity.

-- Donald H. Oliver


  


Legislative Ethics & Codes of Conduct Unit 1: The Emergence of Ethics Regimes

 

Learning Objectives

How does citizen dissatisfaction become protest politics?

After studying this unit, you should be able to:

  • Explain why citizens’ satisfaction with democracy has declined;
  • List some of the ways in which protest politics has manifested itself;

  • Give example of protest politics;
  • Explain the relationship between the establishment of ethics regimes and protest politics.

Introduction

Recently, voters’ satisfaction and trust in political administrations has declined substantially in due to politicians’ irresponsiveness, misconduct, and lack of accountability (Pelizzo and Stapenhurst 2004).  Voters have increasingly felt that their role and power to influence the political decision-making process has been diminished and, as a result, they have lost confidence in governments. Furthermore, voters have come to believe that politicians are more motivated by personal power than civic impact (H. Mackay 1998).  These negative attitudes have been reinforced in countries around the world by the discovery of corruption scandals and other forms of misconduct.

The establishment of ethics regimes and the adoption of government ethics rules are intended to reconstruct voters’ trust in the functioning of political systems. This Unit will consider the impetus for reforming government ethics standards and ethics regimes, describe how ethics regimes and standards impact the way government functions, and explain how these standards and regime changes might impact civil society.  Housed in examples of ethics standards changes, the aim is to provide a complete picture of the government ethics reform process.

 

Index