Toward a Reconciliation of the Bureaucratic and Democratic Ethos

Abstract

This article attempts to reconcile the dominant ethical frameworks in public administration: the bureaucratic ethos and the democratic ethos. To do so, the article begins by recasting the debate between the two ethos as a modern-day manifestation of the historic and ongoing debate between utilitarian and deontological ethics. It next shows how the principle of the universalizability of ethical rules can be derived from both utilitarian and deontological theory. Finally, it shows how the principle of universalizability can be used to reconcile the two ethos in the context of the public interest.