ABSTRACT
Administrative evil fundamentally challenges the ethical foundations of public and organizational life. New patterns of institutional and public corruption in the twenty-first century called as Praetorian times create conditions that seem to increase instances of administrative evil. Despite the extensive literature on public service ethics, there is recognition of most fundamental ethical challenge to the professional within a technical-rational culture: that is, one can be a good or responsible administrator or professional and at the same time commit or contribute to acts of administrative evil. Both public service and business ethics as well as professional ethics more generally in the technical-rational tradition draw upon both teleological and deontological ethics, and focus on the individuals decision-making process in the modern, bureaucratic organization and as a member of a profession. Given the changes associated with market-based government, along with globalization and economic rationalism, the changed requirements for success in organizations have made the prospects for ethical behavior and unmasking administrative evil uncertain.
