Transatlantic Workshop on Ethics and Integrity

Transatlantic Workshop on Ethics and Integrity - 2007

Washington DC March 21-23, 2007

Introduction:
In June 2005 under the auspices of the Section on Ethics of American Society for Public Administration and the Study Group on Ethics and Integrity of Governance of the European Group of Public Administration (EGPA) a highly successful conference on ethics was held in Leuven, Belgium. That conference, designated the First Transatlantic Workshop, was the first in a series of conferences on issues of importance to public administration across the globe. The Second Transatlantic Dialog was held in June 2006, also in Leuven, Belgium and the Fourth workshop of the EGPA Study Group on Ethics and Integrity of Governance was held in October 2006 in Milan, Italy. Now, another ethics conference, designated a Transatlantic Workshop, will be held in Silver Spring, Maryland/Washington DC on March 21-23, 2007. The dates for the ethics conference were selected to coincide with the Annual Conference of the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) that is to begin March 24th, 2007, the day following the Dialog. The respective conference sites are less than 15 miles apart. Conference participants who are accepted to participate in the Transatlantic Dialog will be able to easily transition from the Dialog to the ASPA conference.

The conference aims to strengthen co-operation among European and US scholars on the Workshop topic. All relevant aspects of administrative ethics will be discussed and particular attention will be given to the similarities and differences, both in theory and practice, between Europe, the US and other parts of the world.

Conference Theme:
New Concepts, Theories and Methods in the Study of Ethics and Integrity of Governance

Host facility:
The University of Maryland System Conference Center; Silver Spring, Maryland

A link to the conference hotel will be available in the fall.

Conference Methodology:
The conference will use the same format as the first dialog in Leuven. At the core of the conference will be four study groups/workshops (see the details below). These will be jointly convened by an American and European co-chair and will consist of an internationally mixed audience of participants. The goal is to have American and international scholars in equal numbers in each study group. Each study group will consist of 18-20 participants. Participation in the conference is based upon two criteria; first submission and acceptance of a paper to be presented at a study group and participation in the intellectual deliberations, discussions and activities of the study group. Because interaction within the study groups is so critical to the success of each study group, only those persons who have had a paper accepted for the conference (plus the conference organizers, plenary speakers, paper co-authors and doctoral students) will be permitted to register for the conference. Most of the time at the conference will be spent in the study group, though plenary sessions and social events are also planned. Since participants will be expected to subscribe to one study group and be expected to participate actively in the sessions of that study group, submissions of paper proposals to multiple study groups are not encouraged. Finally, participants are expected to have a completed paper available for distribution to participants in the study group at least three weeks before the conference.

Conference Organization:
The organizing committee of the conference invites papers on the following topics of the 4 study groups.

1. Advancements in methodologies (Co-chairs; Jonathan West- University of Miami, Jeroen Maesschalck - Catholic University, Leuven, Belgium, and Patrick von Maravic - Zeppelin University, Germany)
- a. Potential topics for presentation include
  - i. What is the state of the art of ethics research?
  - ii. Are new instruments and measurement tools being developed (do they need to be developed) to better understand the state of practice?
  - iii. Empiricism versus theory development
  - iv. Ethic research as action research

2. Ethical Management and Leadership (Co-chairs: Carole Jurkiewicz - Louisiana State University and Alan Lawton - University of Birmingham, UK)
- a. Potential topics for presentation include
  - i. Is an ethical perspective a necessary component of good management and organizational leadership?
  - ii. What does it mean to be an ethical leader?
  - iii. Responsibility versus accountability.
  - iv. Role of public managers in anti-corruption initiatives.

3. Global and Comparative Ethics (Co-chairs: Raymond Cox - University of Akron and Paul Heywood - University of Nottingham, UK)
- a. Potential topics for presentation include
  - i. Research reports and analysis that use comparative techniques to examine ethical practice.
  - ii. Discussion of the potential pitfalls in comparative ethical analysis
  - iii. Socio/political basis for public support (or lack of support) in countries or regions for integrity programs
  - iv. Is it possible to develop and apply global integrity perspectives or is ethics bounded by locality, region and/or culture?
  - v. Is there such a thing as a universal perspective on integrity and ethical practice?
  - vi. Judging ethics from a global perspective

4. Normative foundations (Co-chairs: Terry Cooper - University of Southern California and Mark Bovens - Utrecht University, the Netherlands)
- a. Potential topics for presentation include
  - i. Role of political theory and political philosophy in ethics and integrity
  - ii. Socio-psychological foundations of ethics
  - iii. The praxis of ethics
  - iv. Organizational knowledge as an influence on ethical practice

Call for papers:
Paper proposals should be sent BEFORE October 15th, 2006 to:
Raymond Cox - rcox@uakron.edu. The paper proposal should be no more than 250 words. The proposal should specify the study group to which the proposal is directed. It should also explain how the proposal fits the broad conference theme as well as the study group theme.

Notification of acceptance of the paper proposal will be made no later than December 1st, 2006. Final papers are due February 28th, 2007.

* Note Regarding the Hotel:

Per the contract, the only room type available for arrival on March 20 is a queen/queen room, so if guests choose the king bed option with the arrival date of March 20 it will not allow them to make a reservation. However, they can place a request for a king bed in the comment field and the hotel will do their best to accommodate them. If they do not need to arrive until March 21 then the king field will allow them to book online.

** Note about the shuttle:

The shuttle goes between the UMUC Inn and Conference Center and the nearest Metro Rail stop which is Prince George's Plaza Metro Station on the Green Line.