Abstract

ARGYRIADES, Demetrios. Public service at the crossroads: The meaning and importance of professionalization in public service. Convergencia [online]. 2012, vol.19, n.58, pp.97-110. ISSN 2448-5799.

The triumph of technical and instrumental reason, which the road of the new public management and neoliberal thinking followed, deeply affected the course of the public discussion of the ethics. On the positive side, it seemed as though Professional Public Service and Ethics would have arisen again and, as a matter of fact, an honorable place would have been given to them in the discourse of what constitutes a "good government", as well as responsible management. On the negative side, however, soon it became evident that, in the New Public Management, the topic of ethics and professionalism in public administration mainly worked for decorative purposes. Here we propose the need for ethics and professionalization of Public Service to be placed again in the center of debate on democratic governance. "Doing" and "not doing" of our trade as professionals of public service cannot be subjected to search short term advantages or even to the mere search for efficiency and efficacy, mainly when the highest values and principles are at stake. What globalization brings about is the global scope of these principles, the universality of values.

Keywords : new public management; public service; professionalization; public servants.

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