international practices. introduction good governance is crucial to development parliaments can...
TRANSCRIPT
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International practices
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Introduction
Good governance is crucial to development
Parliaments can promote good governance Oversee government activities Create ethics regimes
So… what makes ethics regime work?
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Ethics regimes
Ethics regimes can be made up of several components:
Ethics codes
Codes of conduct
Disclosure rules
Ethics committees
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Legal dispositions are necessary but not sufficient
Dispositions must be enforced
Ethics committees make sure that codes are respected and violations are punished
Legal Dispositions of Codes
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Relation between Code and Disposition
Fact: In the House of Commons, the Code states that MPs must be open, honest and so on…
Question: Do the dispositions of the code apply only to what MPs do in public life or also to what they and their family members do in their private life?
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Example one: Ponder this
• A journalist launched a campaign against an MP• Accused MP of dishonesty & illegally raising funds to buy
a house• MP replied by heavily insulting the journalist
Do you think the behavior of the British MP is consistent with the dispositions of the code?
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What happened?
Accusations against the MP were false!
He had legally financed his house; code of conduct could not sanction him for this.
The MP was sanctioned for insulting the journalist - inconsistent with values of the code.
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Second example
The wife of a British MP made racist remarks to passers by
The issue was brought to Parliament
Can and should a member be sanctioned for his wife’s racist remarks?
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discussion
These examples raise a very important issue:
In order to have effective ethics regimes, ethics rules must be:
1. reasonable
2. clearly stated
3. clearly and uniformly interpreted
4. objectively applied and enforced
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Therefore…
Ethics committees must:
Educate members
Provide guidance to the meaning of the code’s dispositions
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Partisanship: A Second Problem Ethics committees and their members must be
APARTISAN.
Members should not use the committee to delegitimize political opponents
Ethics committees that are partisan will be discredited
A discredited ethics committee provides no incentive to respect the dispositions of the code