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Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory Advance Access originally published online on July 27, 2005
Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 2006 16(3):393-415; doi:10.1093/jopart/mui050
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© The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oupjournals.org.

Taking Tough Choices Seriously: Public Administration and Individual Moral Agency

Ciarán O'Kelly

Queen's University Belfast

Melvin J. Dubnick

Queen's University Belfast and University of New Hampshire

Address correspondence to Melvin Dubnick at dubnickmj{at}yahoo.com.

Using the concepts of thick and thin relationships as the basis for ethical behavior, this paper critiques the emphasis on discretion in the mainstream administrative ethics literature and argues that moral and other dilemmas facing public administrators provide a more useful frame. Two examples drawn from the UK Hutton Investigation into the death of David Kelly are used to demonstrate the relevance and usefulness of this approach.


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