Ethics and politics are poor bedfellows

(Qutab Din Aibak)

Institute of Administrative Sciences

Muhammad Waseem Sajjad…31

Farhan Zafar…59

Farhan Yousaf….17

Mian Ammar….11

BS (HONS) Public Management, PU

Ethics in (Pakistan’s)Politics

Outlines

• Is Ethics Relevant in Politics?

• Mapping Positions on Ethics in Politics

• Traditions and Ethics in Politics

Indian traditions

Muslim traditions

• A common mistake;

• Political Ethics: Vision and Process

• Ethics of Conviction and Responsibility

• Political Ethics Extends from Rulers to Citizens

• Recommendation

A conceptual Framework

Politics and Ethics

• Politics is the process of making and implementing decisions binding upon society

• Politics is about accumulating and using power

• Ethics is a set of beliefs and customs shared by members of society with regard to:

– what is right and what is wrong

– how things ought to be

Is Ethics Relevant in Politics?

• Some Examples

A few examples may illustrate why ethics in politics matters.

• Citizen rights.

• Information,

• freedom and respect

Mapping Positions on Ethics in Politics

The main positions on political ethics may be simplified as follows:

• Skepticism: a strong hesitancy to apply ethics to politics, although it would be nice. Amoral.

• Cynicism: declares as a principle that ethics is not only irrelevant but damaging in politics. Immoral.

• Moralism: projects ideal ethical values as goals for any politics and considers them as normative, or at least inspiring.

• Pragmatism: considers ethics as a possible added value for politics and checks case by case whether or not this is true.

Relations between ethics and politics

Relations between ethics and politics

THE CONFLICT IS OBVIOUS:• Use of power often violates ethical norms (rulers feel compelled

or tempted to act in ways which cannot be morally justified). – Ethics constrains rulers. – What options do they have?

• Ethical behavior (power is legitimate only when it is just)• Open cynicism (power does not need moral justification: it justifies

itself)• Hypocrisy

• Ethics poses challenges to power, works like an engine of social change (reform or revolution)

• JUSTICE! Is a great battle cry

Traditions:-

I. Indian traditions

Gautama Buddha

Gautama Buddha (484-404 BCE) highlights personal detachment from illusions such as lust for power and asserts as well a kind of mirror effect: the ruler who kills is bound to be murdered.

Kautilya

Kautilya (350-283) justifies everything that is needed to take, keep and extend political power, without any moral hindrance.

• According to Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen, Indian tradition still avails today of two concepts of justice – niti for organizational patterns and behavioral correctness, and nyaya for their actual outcomes for a given society – and moves between those two poles.

Political Ethics: Vision and Process

• Politics is not philosophy but practice. It is not enough to specify political goals that satisfy an ethical political vision.

• This needs to be explored, tested and reconfirmed in processes. Consistency between vision and process is an essential ingredient of political success.

Ethics of Conviction and Responsibility

• Ethics in politics has to do with vision. Statesmen and women prove themselves by lifting the eyes of their people from petty or parochial interests to the far horizon of global and future interests. They are able to coalesce around shared values and principles a common political will and project.

• After extensively studying charismatic political leaders in cultures and societies all over the world, Max Weber, German sociologist and himself a leader of political opinion, concluded that conviction and mo-tivationwere not enough. Particularly in modern times, political leaders have to take responsibility not only for their decisions but also for the consequences, even if these contradict or defeat the initial purpose.

Political Ethics Extends from Rulers to Citizens

• Political ethics is not limited to top political rulers – presidents, min-isters, or state secretaries. It extends to parliamentarians, the judiciary and civil servants, businesses, civil society organisations, the media, and last but not least, citizens.

• Most sound political choices are based on large consultative proc-esses that take on board diverging interests, make compromises and bring together individual commitments.

Recommendation

A Conceptual Framework

1. A threefold Foundation

Limitation of Power

Effectiveness

Accountability

2. Justice as a trunk of ethical tree

The three ethical spheres

• political ethics: laws, judiciary, institutions, political will

• social ethics: citizen associations, professional self rule, media, faith communities

• personal ethics: political leadership, citizens as individuals or mem-bers of associations

The three ethical spheres