Power and the Ethics of Reform

There arc IWO broad trad itions in t he study of admini strative e thics. The moralist tradi tion i s central to most of the cOnlcmporary literature on e thics in publ ic admin islruli on. and ils essence was captured in Denni s F. Thompson's 1985 definition o f the field : "Admini strati ve ethics involves the applicati on of m ora l principles to the conduct of officials in organizations." For public adminiSlration, he continued, it is a "species of politica l ethics, which applies moral principles to political li fc morc generally" (555).