Legislative Ethics and Codes of Conduct

Introduction: The Need for Ethics Regimes

• Why? Past decade, citizen satisfaction with democracy declined in several democracies.

• Citizen satisfaction down because:• Corruption scandals involving politicians;• Irresponsiveness of political elites;• Non-accountability of politicians;• Voters’ perceived loss of political efficacy.

Introduction: The Need for Ethics Regimes (Cont.)

Voters feel politicians: Are exclusively concerned with power; Do not care about what people think; Citizens cannot affect decision-making.

Politicians took action!

ETHICS REGIMES!

Functions of Ethics Regimes

Ethics regimes serve two functions:

Internal Function: To regulate the behavior of legislators and prevent misconduct;

External Function: To rebuild public trust in the political system.

Two Forms of Ethics Regimes

Codes of Ethics or Ethics Codes:

Produced by professional associations;

Quality assurance for society;

Standards for conduct for members of the profession.

Codes of Conduct or Conduct Codes:

More concrete and practical;

Legislatively defined Enforceable behavioral

standards; Establish sanctions for

violations of the code.

Characteristics of Codes of Conduct

A formal document

Regulates the behavior of legislators establishes what is acceptable behavior Establishes what is not!

Prevents misconduct Prevents conflict of interests

Codes of Conduct Require Parliamentarians to Disclose:

Tax returns

Sources of patrimonial income and Investments

Real estate interests and ownership of business

Credits

Fees and honoraria

Professional licenses

Reimbursement of travel expenses

Names of immediate family members

The financial interests of the spouse

Codes of Conduct May Impose Restrictions on…

Public position for obtaining personal benefit

Benefits to influence official actions

Confidential government information

Post-tenure employment

Receipt of gifts

Receipt of fees and honoraria

Financial conflicts of interest

Nepotism

Effectiveness of Codes of Conduct

Historic thinking: The existence, severity and administration of sanctions determined the effectiveness of Codes of Conduct.

Research shows: Sanctions are never severe enough to prevent a violation.

Cultural values are more important: Code needs the same ethical standards as culture on what represents proper conduct.

Improving the Effectiveness of Codes of Conduct through Training

Training…

Clarifies what is misconduct

Discusses studies on the causes of misconduct

Explains why eliminating misconduct is important

Identifies how misconduct can be eliminated

So…ethical standards must be established first!

Conclusions:

Politicians enact ethics reforms to regain the trust of the citizens, and they do so by adopting either ethics codes or conduct codes.

Conduct codes differ from ethics codes in two major respects: they formulate specific dispositions and establish sanctions for violations of those dispositions.

Common ethical standards are more important to the success of codes of conducts than sanctions.

Legislative training is key to obtain such standards.