🫘Intro to Public Policy Unit 11 – Ethics in Public Policy: Rights and Justice

Key Ethical Concepts

• Ethics involves the study of moral principles, values, and standards that guide human behavior and decision-making
• Morality refers to the set of personal or cultural beliefs about what is right and wrong, good and bad
• Ethical dilemmas arise when there are conflicting moral obligations or principles at play in a given situation
• Consequentialism judges the morality of an action based on its outcomes or consequences (utilitarianism)
• Deontology focuses on the inherent rightness or wrongness of actions based on moral rules or duties (Kantian ethics)
• Virtue ethics emphasizes the importance of character traits and moral virtues in determining ethical behavior (compassion, integrity)
• Moral relativism holds that moral judgments are relative to individual or cultural beliefs and practices
• Ethical absolutism maintains that there are universal moral principles that apply in all situations regardless of context

Rights and Justice in Public Policy

• Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of entitlement or freedom that are fundamental to human dignity
  • Negative rights protect individuals from interference or harm by others (right to life, liberty, property)
  • Positive rights obligate others to provide certain goods or services (right to education, healthcare)
• Justice concerns the fair and equitable treatment of individuals under the law and in society
• Distributive justice deals with the fair allocation of benefits and burdens in society (wealth, opportunities, resources)
• Procedural justice ensures that fair processes and procedures are followed in decision-making and dispute resolution
• Retributive justice focuses on punishment and penalties for wrongdoing as a means of maintaining social order
• Restorative justice aims to repair harm and rebuild relationships between offenders, victims, and communities
• Social justice seeks to promote equality, human rights, and fairness in the distribution of wealth and opportunities
• Intergenerational justice considers the rights and interests of future generations in policy decisions (environmental sustainability)

Ethical Frameworks for Decision-Making

• Utilitarianism seeks to maximize overall happiness and well-being for the greatest number of people
  • Act utilitarianism evaluates the consequences of each individual action in a given situation
  • Rule utilitarianism follows moral rules that are expected to produce the best overall consequences
• Kantian deontology focuses on the moral duty to respect persons as ends in themselves, not merely as means to an end
  • The categorical imperative states that one should act only according to rules that could become universal laws
• Rawls' theory of justice emphasizes fair procedures and the protection of basic liberties and equal opportunity
  • The "veil of ignorance" thought experiment considers principles of justice from an impartial perspective
• Principlism in bioethics relies on four key principles: respect for autonomy, nonmaleficence, beneficence, and justice
• Casuistry uses analogical reasoning to resolve ethical dilemmas by comparing them to paradigm cases
• Feminist ethics emphasizes context, relationships, and the experiences of marginalized groups in moral reasoning
• Discourse ethics stresses the importance of open and inclusive dialogue in arriving at ethical norms and decisions

Case Studies in Policy Ethics

• The Tuskegee syphilis experiment involved the unethical withholding of treatment from African American men
• The Ford Pinto case raised questions about corporate social responsibility and the valuation of human life
• The Challenger space shuttle disaster highlighted the risks of groupthink and flawed decision-making processes
• The Flint water crisis in Michigan exposed issues of environmental injustice and the neglect of marginalized communities
• Debates over healthcare rationing during the COVID-19 pandemic revealed difficult trade-offs between individual rights and public health
• Climate change policies must grapple with questions of intergenerational justice and the rights of future generations
• Controversies over affirmative action programs illustrate tensions between equality of opportunity and historical redress
• The use of algorithms in criminal sentencing and predictive policing raises concerns about bias and procedural fairness

Balancing Competing Rights

• Conflicts can arise between individual rights and the collective good or public interest
  • Mandatory vaccination policies pit personal autonomy against public health goals
  • Eminent domain allows the state to seize private property for public use, challenging property rights
• Rights may also come into tension with each other in specific situations
  • The right to free speech may conflict with the right to privacy or freedom from harassment
  • Religious liberty claims can clash with anti-discrimination norms in cases involving same-sex marriage
• Proportionality is a key principle in balancing competing rights and interests
  • Restrictions on individual rights should be proportional to the public interest at stake
  • The least restrictive means of achieving a compelling government interest should be preferred
• Accommodations and exemptions can help to reconcile conflicts between rights in some cases
  • Conscientious objection in healthcare allows providers to decline to participate in certain procedures
• Procedural safeguards are important for protecting rights when balancing competing interests
  • Due process rights ensure fair legal proceedings when liberty or property interests are at stake

Ethical Challenges in Policy Implementation

• Discretionary decision-making by street-level bureaucrats can lead to unequal treatment of citizens
• Corruption and bribery undermine the integrity of public institutions and distort policy outcomes
• Conflicts of interest arise when officials' private interests interfere with their public duties
  • Revolving door between government and industry creates perverse incentives (regulatory capture)
• Lack of transparency and accountability in policymaking processes breeds mistrust and abuse of power
• Discriminatory enforcement of laws and policies perpetuates systemic inequalities (racial profiling)
• Inadequate resources and capacity constraints hinder the effective and equitable delivery of public services
• Moral hazard problems occur when policies create perverse incentives or encourage irresponsible behavior
• Overreliance on technocratic expertise can neglect the values and lived experiences of affected communities

Measuring Policy Outcomes Ethically

• Quantitative metrics and cost-benefit analysis can obscure important moral considerations
  • Difficulty of assigning monetary values to intangible goods like human life or environmental quality
  • Distributional impacts and equity concerns may be overlooked in aggregate welfare measures
• Qualitative and participatory methods are needed to capture the full range of policy impacts on stakeholders
• Randomized controlled trials in social policy raise ethical questions about withholding benefits from control groups
• Informed consent and voluntariness are essential ethical safeguards in human subjects research
• Privacy and confidentiality must be protected when collecting and using personal data for policy analysis
• Transparency about research methods and potential biases is crucial for maintaining public trust
• Evaluation criteria should incorporate a range of ethical principles beyond mere efficiency or effectiveness
• Inclusive and deliberative processes can help to surface value judgments and resolve ethical disagreements

Future Trends and Ethical Considerations

• Advances in artificial intelligence and big data analytics present new ethical challenges for public policy
  • Algorithmic bias and discrimination in automated decision-making systems (facial recognition)
  • Privacy concerns with mass surveillance and predictive policing tools that rely on personal data
• Biotechnology and human enhancement technologies raise questions about equity, authenticity, and the limits of individual choice
• Climate change and existential risk require policymakers to consider the interests of future generations
  • Intergenerational justice and the ethical basis for long-term policy planning and investment
  • Potential need for unprecedented global cooperation and governance structures to address shared threats
• Economic inequality and the concentration of wealth and power in the hands of a few pose risks to democratic values
• Polarization and the spread of misinformation online undermine the factual basis for ethical deliberation
• Globalization and the increasing interdependence of nations strain traditional models of state sovereignty and accountability
• The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed and exacerbated underlying inequalities, calling for a renewed commitment to social justice
• Growing calls for racial justice and the dismantling of systemic oppression challenge the status quo in policy ethics