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Moral Responsibility of Public Officials: The Problem of Many Hands

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  • Thompson, Dennis F.

Abstract

That many different officials contribute in many different ways to decisions and policies in the modern state makes it difficult to ascribe moral responsibility to any official. The usual responses to this problem—based on concepts of hierarchical and collective responsibility—distort the notion of responsibility. The idea of personal responsibility—based on causal and volitional criteria—constitutes a better approach to the problem of ascribing responsibility to public officials. Corresponding to each of these criteria are types of excuses that officials use in defending the decisions they make. An analysis of the conditions under which the excuses eliminate or mitigate responsibility provides a foundation for accountability in a democracy.

Suggested Citation

  • Thompson, Dennis F., 1980. "Moral Responsibility of Public Officials: The Problem of Many Hands," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 74(4), pages 905-916, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:apsrev:v:74:y:1980:i:04:p:905-916_16
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    4. Maaser, Nicola & Stratmann, Thomas, 2024. "Costly voting in weighted committees: The case of moral costs," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    5. Olivia Nicol, 2018. "No Body to Kick, No Soul to Damn: Responsibility and Accountability for the Financial Crisis (2007–2010)," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 151(1), pages 101-114, August.
    6. Hein Duijf & Frederik Putte, 2022. "The problem of no hands: responsibility voids in collective decisions," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 58(4), pages 753-790, May.
    7. Nicola Maaser & Thomas Stratmann, 2021. "Costly Voting in Weighted Committees: The case of moral costs," Economics Working Papers 2021-11, Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus University.
    8. Iris Wanzenböck & Joeri H Wesseling & Koen Frenken & Marko P Hekkert & K Matthias Weber, 0. "A framework for mission-oriented innovation policy: Alternative pathways through the problem–solution space," Science and Public Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 47(4), pages 474-489.
    9. Alessandro Piazza, 2021. "Collective Responsibility in the Cooperative Governance of Climate Change," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-18, April.
    10. Jannes Craens & Koen Frenken & Toon Meelen, 2021. "Mission-oriented innovation policy. The case of the Swedish ‘Vision Zero’ approach to traffic safety," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2140, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Dec 2021.
    11. Sarah Maslen & Jan Hayes & Janice Wong & Christina Scott-Young, 2020. "Witch hunts and scapegoats: an investigation into the impact of personal liability concerns on engineers’ reporting of risks," Environment Systems and Decisions, Springer, vol. 40(3), pages 413-426, September.
    12. Arnošt Veselý, 2017. "Policy advice as policy work: a conceptual framework for multi-level analysis," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 50(1), pages 139-154, March.
    13. Livia Johannesson & Noomi Weinryb, 2021. "How to blame and make a difference: perceived responsibility and policy consequences in two Swedish pro-migrant campaigns," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 54(1), pages 41-62, March.
    14. Marc J. C. van den Homberg & Caroline M. Gevaert & Yola Georgiadou, 2020. "The Changing Face of Accountability in Humanitarianism: Using Artificial Intelligence for Anticipatory Action," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(4), pages 456-467.
    15. Gary Fooks & Anna Gilmore & Jeff Collin & Chris Holden & Kelley Lee, 2013. "The Limits of Corporate Social Responsibility: Techniques of Neutralization, Stakeholder Management and Political CSR," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 112(2), pages 283-299, January.
    16. Ipatova, Anna & Rogozin, Dmitriy, 2014. "Alignment of State and Municipal Officials of the Russian Federation: Professional Ethics, Political Views, Features of the Interaction with the Central Government and the Local Population," Published Papers re9024, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration.
    17. Aletheia Donald & Cheryl Doss & Markus Goldstein & Sakshi Gupta, 2024. "Sharing responsibility through joint decision-making and implications for intimate-partner violence: evidence from 12 Sub-Saharan African Countries," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 35-66, March.
    18. Eggenschwiler, Jacqueline, 2017. "Accountability challenges confronting cyberspace governance," Internet Policy Review: Journal on Internet Regulation, Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG), Berlin, vol. 6(3), pages 1-11.
    19. Andreas Schedler, 1998. "The Normative Force of Electoral Promises," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 10(2), pages 191-214, April.
    20. Pesch, Udo, 2015. "Tracing discursive space: Agency and change in sustainability transitions," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 90(PB), pages 379-388.
    21. Radu USZKAI & Cristina VOINEA & Toni GIBEA, 2021. "Responsibility Attribution Problems In Companies: Could An Artificial Moral Advisor Solve This?," Proceedings of the INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE, Faculty of Management, Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania, vol. 15(1), pages 951-959, November.
    22. Bovens, Mark, 2006. "Analysing and Assessing Public Accountability. A Conceptual Framework," European Governance Papers (EUROGOV) 1, CONNEX and EUROGOV networks.
    23. Julia Black, 2008. "Constructing and contesting legitimacy and accountability in polycentric regulatory regimes," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 2(2), pages 137-164, June.
    24. McGraw, A. Peter & Todorov, Alexander & Kunreuther, Howard, 2011. "A policy maker's dilemma: Preventing terrorism or preventing blame," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 115(1), pages 25-34, May.
    25. Prasetyono, Pipin, 2017. "Facilitating payments: an ethical problem in the Indonesian bureaucracy," MPRA Paper 97656, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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