ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses moral standards in public service, with special attention to the role of officials. It presents discussion and analysis of some of the issues that seem to the contributors to be of pressing importance at the present time and that seem to have relevance for public service in the new millennium. Whilst some aspects of public service are being sensitized to human rights and are being affected by constitutional and political change, there is still the expectation that public servants will be motivated to serve the public interest. The exercise of discretionary decision making is so important in modern democracies that much effort is devoted to ensuring that the frameworks within which such decisions are made is appropriate. Ethics in public service is about making decisions where judgment has to be applied.
