Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance

Living Edition
| Editors: Ali Farazmand

Law and Public Administrator’s Commitment

Living reference work entry
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_1186-1
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Synonyms

Accountability; Constitutional competence; Constitutional or legal framework

Definition

The responsibility of bureaucrats to follow the constitutional and legal framework of their nation. Professional standards and democratic values hold that public administrators should be concerned with fairness in administration and ethics in their duties. Commitment to the law does not allow public administrators to disregard ethics in their administrative decisions.

Introduction: Democratic Accountability, Bureaucratic Accountability, and Political Accountability

Defining a public administrator’s commitment to the law requires explaining three forms of accountability. Democratic accountability is the public administrator’s responsibility to follow democratic values, such as constitutionally protected freedoms and rights. Public administrators have a responsibility to ensure fairness in administrative practices of government. Second, bureaucratic accountabilityis the public...

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Copyright information

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Department of Political ScienceAugusta UniversityAugustaUSA
  2. 2.Augusta UniversityAugustaUSA