History and Political Science: An In-depth Analysis - Research Paper Example

? In-depth Analysis of History and Political Science: An In-depth Analysis Administrative Ethics The Centre for Public Integrity focuses on topics that relate to administrative responsibility and ethical implications. Under the topic on politics available in its iWatch website, there are three latest news items that focus on administrative responsibility and ethical implications. The latest news item is titled “Wisconsin Gov. Walker’s conservative media appearances pay off as he raises millions from out-of-state donors.” This item shows that Governor Walker is undertaking his administrative responsibility effectively. However, there are concerns that his conservative media appearances are not desirable. This may have ethical implications to stakeholders and the public because they seem not to have adequate avenues to engage with their Governor. The second news item is titled “Super PAC cash plays big role in Nebraska Senate race.” This item illustrates political interplays that take place towards election of a state senator. It is agreeable that the position of Senator has some responsibilities; a fact that informs various stakeholders’ decision to support a certain candidate who they feel will perform his mandate effectively. However, financial support by various stakeholders may have ethical implications as the ultimate winner of the Senate elections may be tempted to make decisions based on the some of the wishes of his “supporters” which may not be in the interest of the other stakeholders. The third item is titled “New GOP super PAC aimed at attracting youth vote.” These items shows the desire of the Republicans to attract the youth vote as part of its agenda to address the high unemployment that has disillusioned the youths over the years (The Center for Public Integrity, 2012). Leadership Influences The leadership of The Centre for Public Integrity is based on the political framework approach model of leadership. This model holds that an effective leadership situation is that which encompasses leadership as an advocacy. The leadership style adopted by this agency is building and coalition. The agency advocates for distribution of interests and power by building linkages to stakeholders, using negotiation, and through coercion where it is necessary. The agency is non partisan and it is dedicated to producing investigative journalism on public concern issues. It operates in the political context which is conducive which enables it undertake its objectives effectively and with little or no political challenges at all. Internal agency leaders and political leaders have influenced the success of the agency in the following three ways. The first way is through the non-partisan approach that the internal agency leaders have adopted in the running of the agency’s activities which has enabled it to encounter minimal criticisms regarding partisanship. The second way is by operating its investigative journalism activities by putting the interest of the public first and adhering to integrity and honesty principles in its activities (The Center for Public Integrity, 2012). This has enabled it gain credibility from the public thus making it successful. The third way is through the political leaders; they have had faith on the agency and very few have raised pertinent concerns regarding the agency and its activities. Also, internal agency leaders have greatly influenced the success of the agency in the sense that the agency focuses on the abuses of power, duty dereliction by powerful private and public institutions thereby winning public support. Legal Decisions Ideally, the power that The Centre for Public Integrity has as an agency in enforcing the regulations they are asked to uphold is limited. Often, this agency together with others are commissioned by certain state agencies, private and public organizations to investigate integrity, governance, administrative, and accountability aspects in a particular State or all the States. Such an agency is commissioned not simply to investigate scandals that may have taken place in the state governments; instead, it often seeks to measure the strengths of practices and laws that deter corruption and encourage transparency and accountability. Journalists of an agency such as The Centre for Public Integrity have powers to review the internal consistency and accuracy within the state government. According to the State Integrity Investigation, which is a public collaboration that has been designed to expose practices that is deemed to undermine state capitols trust, experienced journalists such as those working for The Centre for Public Integrity are allowed to investigate every state and to grade each state’s corruption risk, and to determine its accountability and openness measures (Kraft and Furlong, 2009). The process of enforcing the agency’s regulations is faced with a number of challenges. One of the main challenges is inadequate financial resources to enforce regulations (Cooper, 1999). Since The Centre for Public Integrity is a non-profit organization, it may fail to raise adequate money to fund its activities. The agency relies mostly on donations from well-wishers, which may not be forthcoming or may not be adequate to fund the activities of the agency. Due to the financial constraint the agency may fail to hire adequate staff or fund its entire operations, thereby undermining the achievement of its objectives. The second challenge that the agency is facing relates to the implementation of its recommendations. As has been noted, the agency main mission is to reveal corruption, dereliction of duty by private and public institutions, as well as revealing power abuses. However, individuals and organizations that have been identified as being culprits of these vices may fail to rectify the vices or do too little to rectify them (Behn, 2001). Another challenge is the “attacking” of the agency’s journalists for their investigative reports. Strategies for Consideration to Administrative Processes The agency should have strategies for its future plans for administrative ethics, leadership, and legal to improve the operations of the agency and its primary recipients. The agency should seek to positively influence the ethics of its members. Since the agency involves investigative journalism, ethics is very critical to ensure that the journalists do not violate the ethics required of them while conducting investigative journalism (Hill, 2009). This is because any violation will result to inaccurate outcomes of the findings thereby making the agency not to attain its objectives. Also, the agency should influence how its members deal with the government and the public when pursuing its mission. Even though its mission is to reveal corruption and abuse of power in the private and public institutions, this mission should be pursued according to administrative ethics. The ultimate success of any agency depends on how it balances its responsibilities and its relationship with the government and the public. Therefore, the agency’s decisions and activities should be consider the government and public aspects; that is, it should comply with the ethical behavior and values dictated by the government and the public (Kraft and Furlong, 2009). The leadership of the agency which comprises the Board of Directors, Advisory Council, and the Executive Director has been critical in the success of the agency (The Center for Public Integrity, 2012). The strategy for the agency’s future plans leadership cannot change considerably; instead, measures should be put in place to ensure that persons occupying leadership positions in the future possess the requisite knowledge, skills, and experience required to effectively undertake the agency’s leadership responsibilities. In regard to legal aspects, there is little that the agency can do to improve its operation and that of its primary recipients. However, the agency can strengthen its own internal regulation in order to give its journalists more powers and protection. This will help its journalists to undertake the agency’s operations with increased enthusiasm and confidence (Hill, 2009). Recommendations for Improvements To Administrative Processes While the agency’s strategies are aimed at improving its future plans, it is important that the agency implements strategies that will provide immediate improvement. Therefore, this paper recommends two strategies that will provide immediate improvement based on models that influence public policy. The first strategy is institutionalism; since public policy is implemented and enforced by government institutions, this agency should foster closer relationship between itself and the government institutions (Kraft and Furlong, 2009). This is because a policy does not become a public policy until some government institution adopts and implements it. The second strategy that will provide immediate improvement for the agency is rationalism. Ideally, a policy should achieve maximum social gain. Rationalism as a public policy model holds that policies should result to gains in the society. The agency should apply the rationalism model right away to ensure that it achieves immediate improvement. The recommendation made above will also serve to bring about improvement in the agency. The first criteria recommended that the agency should influence the ethics of its members. This recommendation will help bring about improvement in the agency by ensuring that the members comply with the regulations and laws. The second criterion is in regard to leadership; it recommended that the subsequent leadership should meet all the requisite qualifications, skills, and knowledge. Leadership is very important to any agency, and as such it should be competent enough in order to perform the leadership responsibilities effectively (Hill, 2009). By ensuring that the agency’s leadership has met the requisite qualifications will help it meet its short and long term objectives. The third recommendation made to the agency was to increase the powers and protection of its journalists so that they perform their duties boldly without fear. Being an investigative journalism agency, such a criterion will bring improvement to it through thorough and comprehensive investigation (Kraft and Furlong, 2009). References Behn, R. (2001). Rethinking Democratic Accountability. Brookings Institution Press. Cooper, T. (1999). The responsible administrator: An approach to ethics for the administrative role. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers. Hill, M. (2009). The Public Policy Process. Pearson Education. Kraft, M., & Furlong, S. (2009). Public Policy: Politics, Analysis, and Alternatives. CQ Press. The Center for Public Integrity. (2012). Top Stories. Retrieved from http://www.iwatchnews.org/ Appendix Interview Forms 1. Do you think The Centre for Public Integrity investigates issues that are relevant to its mission? Yes. Their investigations revolve around issues of administrative responsibility and ethical implications which is within their mission. 2. Is the influence of the internal agency leaders and political leaders significant? From the way the agency operates it can be seen that their influence is significant. 3. What are the main challenges that the agency face while pursuing its mission? Just like many other agencies, The Centre for Public Integrity faces several challenges, key among them financial constraints and the implementation of its recommendations by the third parties. 4. What are the strategies that the agency should implement in order to provide short and long term improvement? In order to improve its operation as an agency, the agency should implement strategies that will enhance its administrative ethics, streamline its legal aspects, and to constantly improve its leadership by recruiting leaders with the relevant qualifications and experience. Read More