Topics: Ethics and Responsibility

August 20 – 30, 2001

Bialystok, Poland,

The NISPAcee Summer School 2001 was organized in co-operation with the School of Public Administration, Bialystok, Poland.

The purpose of the international course was to encourage new methods of teaching the "Ethics and Responsibility within Public Administration Programmes” and to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas and the development of curricula.

Content was dealing with all the major areas in public administration in which typically ethical issues emerge. Thus we focused on: 

- the relationships between public servants and politicians and the media,
 
- the interpersonal relationships within administrative agencies both in terms of dealings with colleagues as well as between employees and their superiors,

- the major problems encountered in public administration such as conflict of interest, corruption, commitment to the democratic norms, citizens and superiors and issues of openness and transparency.

Responsibility and accountability of public servants was a major component of the course. We discussed the changing shifts in treatment of these issues including the emerging new doctrine from both the national courts as well as the European jurisprudence. We concentrated on developing strategies and tools aiming at improvement in standards of behaviour.

Detailed programme of the Summer School