Motivating Ministers to Morality

’This book is a stimulating and comprehensive international investigation of one of the major challenges to modern governments worldwide - regaining the public respect and authority lost by the real and perceived failures in ministerial accountability and by unethical practices in government. It should be read by anyone, both inside and outside government, interested in ways of improving ethical standards in public life. The authors, practitioners and public policy academics from a number of countries, combine informed case study analysis with penetrating discussion of the broader issues involved.’ Professor John Warhurst, Australian National University, Canberra ’The tabloid headlines scream sleaze. Are you tired of their hysterical claims? Ministers evade responsibility for their political and administrative failings? Are you tired of their special pleadings? Jenny Fleming, Ian Holland and their colleagues put the topic of ministerial ethics under the microscope, teasing out the tensions and contradictions inherent in parliamentary systems where party control buttresses executive power. They offer no easy institutional fixes, no unambiguous codes of conduct, but a welcome appreciation of the complexities of political life with an insistence on the need for a context which motivates ministers to meet public expectations about the right way to behave. If you crave dispassionate analysis on this overheated topic, look no further.’ Professor Rod Rhodes, Newcastle University, UK ’This edited collection is a great asset to political science and public administration and it should be incorporated into the must-read list for students studying political corruption.’ Governance ’Consistent quality across all sixteen chapters of the book means a useful addition to the existing literature on the ethical behaviour of political elites.’ Parliamentary Affairs '...the three overvies chapters that conclude the book are excellent in addressin