Corruption and the Public Service Ethos in Mid-Victorian Administration: The Case of Leonard Horner and the Factory Office
Corruption and the Public Service Ethos in Mid-Victorian Administration: The Case of Leonard Horner and the Factory Office
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DOI：
10.1093/ehr/ceaa249
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发表时间：
2020-08-01
影响因子：
0.7
通讯作者：
Cawood, Ian
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Cawood, Ian
虽然19世纪中叶英国的政治腐败问题已经被大量研究，但公共机构的腐败行为经验，无论是新成立的还是历史悠久的，都相对被忽视。本文以《大改革法案》后设立的第一批检查机构之一--工厂办公室为例，考察英国公民国家中腐败行为的严重程度及其解决办法。它审查了任命、纪律和晋升过程的变化，薪酬和腐败问题，以及检查员、工人、工厂老板、政府和广大公务员之间的关系，以及新闻界和舆论之间的关系。文章认为，检查员态度的变化，特别是伦纳德·霍纳的态度变化，表明了官僚和文化环境中正在发展的“公共服务精神”，这些默默无闻的行政人员的工作是在公众支持下挑战维多利亚时代英国公民结构中的腐败行为的机构之一。文章的结论是，工厂检查局实现的官僚做法的内生改革甚至可能与1854年著名的诺思科特-特雷维扬报告所产生的改革具有同等的意义。
While the problem of political corruption in mid-nineteenth century Britain has been much studied, the experience of corrupt behaviour in public bodies, both new and long established, is comparatively neglected. This article takes the example of one of the first inspectorates set up after the Great Reform Act, the Factory Office, to examine the extent of corrupt practices in the British civic state and the means whereby it was addressed. It examines the changing processes of appointment, discipline and promotion, the issues of remuneration and venality, and the relationships between inspectors, workers, factory owners, the government and the wider civil service, and the press and public opinion. The article argues that the changing attitudes of the inspectors, especially those of Leonard Horner, were indicative of a developing 'public service ethos' in both bureaucratic and cultural settings and that the work of such unsung administrators was one of the agencies through which corrupt behaviour in the civic structures of Victorian Britain was, with public support, challenged. The article concludes that the endogenous reform of bureaucratic practice achieved by the factory inspectorate may even be of equal significance as that which resulted from the celebrated Northcote-Trevelyan Report of 1854.