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Public Organiz Rev (2008) 8:8991
DOI 10.1007/s11115-008-0046-7
BOOK REVIEW
Published online: 15 February 2008 # Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2008
The search for ethics in public service has been the focus of both scholars and practitioners for a long time and numerous books, articles, and papers have been written about the topic. At first glance of Svaras Ethics Primer, one cannot help but wonder what more there is to introduce about ethics in public administration when so much literature abound on the issue (Copper 1982, 1994; Denhardt 1988; Rohr 1989; Lewis 1991; Willa 2001; Sampford and Preston 2002; Frederickson and Ghere 2005, to mention just a few). Yet, as the pages unfold, the reader finds oneself engrossed in a pleasantly engaging text brimming with practical examples and real life scenarios that students of public administration will find fascinating and public servants and those in the not-for-profit organizations will relate to.
In his Ethics Primer, Svara reiterates the importance of infusing ethics in administrative practice and every day behavior for both public administrators and nongovernmental organizations executives. He does this not by prescribing dos and donts but rather, by illustrating the complexities and controversies bounding ethical dilemmas so that the reader may develop independent ethical judgments based on a clear understanding of public values and careful consideration of competing alternatives. In his words, the purpose of the book is to exhort you to engage yourself in ethics; to be more aware of the ethical dimension in public service, to be more ethical in a more thoroughgoing way than before, and to do more to encourage others to be ethical. (2). He methodically introduces the reader to the nature of public service duty and the major approaches to thinking about ethics utilizing a broad analysis of current relevant literature which he augments with his own wealth of academic, professional, and practical knowledge and experience.
Chapter one of the text offers an introduction to the book focusing on the goals of writing the book and what the author envisages as the potential benefits to the reader. The readers attention is immediately captured by the pop quiz he/she is offered to
G. E. Kyarimpa (*)
Department of Political Science and Public Administration, Makerere University, P.O. Box...