Chapter 10: Ethics and Accountability in The Age of Predatory Globalization: An Impossibility Theorem?

The challenges of ethics and accountability have always been a central concern in public governance and administration throughout history, yet the apparently ugly side of various forms of corruption, both concepts are in practice more complex and subtle than expected. This essay offers a general discussion of public service ethics and accountability in the age of corporate and predatory globalization, with an intention to offer a primer for practicing public administrators. Particular attention is paid to key theories of ethics and accountability, globalization with emphasis on “predatory globalization,” marketization and sweeping privatization, the new public management (NPM), with implications for public service ethics and administration. The concept of “agencification” is introduced to show the transformed role of the state and public administration under “corpocracy” with declining spirit of ethics and integrity, as well as the growing challenge of “impossibility theorem” in public service and administration. “Virtue ethics,” “professionalism,” ethics education, and character development are suggested as key theoretical and practical groundings to enhance ethical and accountability capacity in modern governance and public administration.