Encouraging Ethics and Preventing Corruption brings together theory and practice to address the question: How are we to be ethical in public life and through public institutions?

This book is a major contribution to public sector ethics internationally because it provides an exhaustive analysis of reform across a decade in one jurisdiction, Queensland, and then proceeds to itemise a best practice integrity system or ethics regime. Drawing on the extensive research of two of Australia's leading practical ethicists, this text is essential reading for all students and practitioners of applied and professional ethics in the public sphere.

Part A of the text provides a preferred theoretical and conceptual framework which both justifies and guides the development of a public sector ethics regime.

Part B examines the place of the individual within a world of institutional ethics.

Part C outlines the Queensland governance reforms introduced since 1989 following the Fitzgerald Inquiry which exposed corruption in the police and ministry.

The final chapter gathers the insights of earlier chapters and suggests a more explicitly ethics-centred approach to governance reform that may take us "beyond best practice."

Clearly, while it is the Australian context we have in mind, we are confident that this is a text which addresses the quest for integrity and ethics in government wherever society is committed to social and liberal democratic ideals.

Table of Contents

PART A: A FRAMEWORK FOR PUBLIC SECTOR ETHICS
CHAPTER 1: Public Sector Ethics in a Contemporary Context
CHAPTER 2: Towards a Theory for Public Ethics
CHAPTER 3: Institutionalising Ethics

PART B: THE INDIVIDUAL PUBLIC OFFICIAL
CHAPTER 4: The Vocation of Public Life
CHAPTER 5: Managing Conflict of Interest and Making Decisions

PART C: THE QUEENSLAND EXPERIENCE OF REFORM
CHAPTER 6: From Fitzgerald to Shepherdson: A Brief History
CHAPTER 7: The Queensland Reforms: An Assessment

EPILOGUE: Towards Best Practice: Ethics Centred Governance Reform
Bibliography
Index

"A welcome addition to the Australian literature...
The theme is that ethics can and should be made the heart of governance reform, if the reforming elite has the will to extend public accountability to cover compliance with legitimate democratic values.... The argument in support of this case is... something called 'institutional ethics' [which] is contrasted with 'individual ethics'... The challenge then becomes how to institutionalise character.
The merit of an institutionalised approach is that it sees the problem in systemic terms with individuals responding to institutional cues about what is proper according to public-sector context rather than simply their private conscience...."

- John Uhr, Australian Journal of Political Science, Vol 38(3), November 2003