Tjänstemannaetikens komplikationer

Sammanfattning: In this thesis, my aim is to offer a comprehensive normative analysis of the different types of ethical dilemmas that Swedish bureaucrats face in their everyday decision-making. By mainly focusing on value systems and different ethical schools discussed by Lundquist (1988, 1998), a complex picture arises with a variety of choices a bureaucrat faces all the way from policy initiation to implementation of the decisions made by our elected politicians. The role of institutions and value-systems as essential parts of the socialization and disciplining of bureaucrats into a code of behavior is discussed, as well as the different legal tools politicians can use in order to regulate how much freedom of action a bureaucrat may have. The importance of the ability for bureaucrats to act as whistleblowers and to take different steps of action in case of obvious and blatant misuse of power in their organizations such as corruption is also highlighted from an ethical viewpoint, thus showing the democratic responsibility bureaucrats are bestowed with as an integral part of their work. The last part of the thesis takes on constructive arguments offered by Lundquist (1998), specifically the call for an ethical code to be constructed by which bureaucrats can find practical guidance and actively discuss ethical issues they may face in different situations. In the analysis, I question whether such an ethical code is reasonable or even possible to implement today, especially given how far privatization-ideals have reached in our modern day public institutions.