Governing Public Virtue. "Conflict of Interest" in Comparative Perspective

治理公共道德。

• 批准号: ES/R011508/1
• 负责人: Sarah Kolopp
• 金额: $ 30.75万
• 依托单位: University of Cambridge
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2019 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ES%2FR011508%2F1
• 关键词: Governing; Public; Virtue.; Conflict; Interest

From outrage over José Manuel Barroso's post-EU career at Goldman Sachs, to concerns over the scope of Donald Trump's business interests, "conflict of interest" (COI)-defined by the OECD as a "conflict between the public duty and private interests of a public official"-has become a central word of our political age. Despite the pressing challenge that COI poses to many liberal democracies, we know surprisingly little about the history of how COI came to public prominence, and why its dominant policy resolutions took on moral, rather than legal, regulatory clothes. The purpose of this research project is to provide the first account of the historical emergence of "conflict of interest" as a legitimate framework to think about undue influences in public life in the United States, France and the United Kingdom. This research project will thus both bridge a considerable gap in our academic knowledge, and contribute to debates about contemporary forms of governance.Three questions will, more specifically, guide data collection:1) To what extent is COI an American "export" product? The label "conflict of interest", indeed, seems to originate within US legal thought in the 1960s, but arguably developed as a point of contention in public life much later, in the 1990s, in the UK and in France. This research project will thus pay close attention to the dynamics of international circulation of COI and COI policy formulations, and to non-linear modalities of cultural transfers. It will also examine the extent to which international (advocacy) institutions helped bring COI to prominence as an institutional discourse and regulatory structure in the UK and France in the 1990s.2) Who are the entrepreneurs of public virtue? This project will identify the various actors-lawyers, legal counsellors, economists, public policy scholars, policymakers, politicians-who problematised COI, codified the type of 'interests' at stake, and pushed it forward on the political agenda. It will closely examine their mobilisation efforts, their debates, and the various ways in which they helped shape policy proposals. 3) What is the relation between COI and the moralisation of public life? This project will explore what appeared from preliminary investigations as a key mystery: the crystallisation of COI as a "moral" problem, to be solved by deontological guidelines and ethical codes, rather than as a "criminal" issue. This project will thus contribute to our understanding of the relations between state, market and morals.These questions will be answered using a mixed-methodology research design, combining archival research and qualitative interviewing in the US, the UK and in France. Data collection will be focused, in each country, on salient moments and institutions in the construction of COI (see Case for Support). It will draw on the PI's experience conducting research in elite administrative, financial, and governmental contexts.The findings of this research will inform a broad academic audience in sociology, political science, history and public administration. Its academic contributions will be delivered through scholarly articles, conference presentations, and a monograph. This research aims, as well, to contribute to wider policy debates about how to consolidate our democratic regimes through the particular prism of COI and COI regulations. This will be achieved by a) outreach activities (op-eds, public lectures, project-website) meant to educate the general public about COI, and b) professional development initiatives aimed at policy-makers (a course on COI to be taught in schools of public affairs, a conference bringing together scholars and policymakers).

从对若泽·曼努埃尔·巴罗佐（José Manuel Barroso）在高盛（Goldman Sachs）的后欧盟职业生涯的愤怒，到对唐纳德·特朗普（Donald Trump）商业利益范围的担忧，“利益冲突”（COI）--经合组织将其定义为“公职人员的公共责任与私人利益之间的冲突”--已成为我们政治时代的核心词。尽管COI对许多自由民主国家构成了紧迫的挑战，但我们对COI如何成为公众关注焦点的历史以及为什么它的主要政策决议采取了道德而不是法律的监管服装的历史却知之甚少。本研究项目的目的是提供“利益冲突”作为一个合法框架来思考在美国，法国和联合王国的公共生活中的不当影响的历史出现的第一个帐户。因此，本研究项目将弥合我们学术知识中的巨大差距，并有助于对当代治理形式的辩论。更具体地说，三个问题将指导数据收集：1）在多大程度上COI是美国的“出口”产品？事实上，“利益冲突”这一标签似乎起源于20世纪60年代的美国法律的思想，但可以说，在很久以后，在20世纪90年代，在英国和法国，它成为公共生活中的一个争论点。因此，本研究项目将密切关注COI国际流通的动态和COI政策的制定，以及文化转移的非线性模式。它还将研究在何种程度上国际（宣传）机构帮助使COI突出作为一个机构的话语和监管结构在英国和法国在20世纪90年代。2）谁是企业家的公共美德？这个项目将确定各种行为者-律师，法律的顾问，经济学家，公共政策学者，决策者，政治家-谁problematised COI，编纂类型的“利益”的利害关系，并推动它在政治议程上。它将仔细研究他们的动员工作，他们的辩论，以及他们帮助制定政策建议的各种方式。3)COI与公共生活道德化之间的关系是什么？这个项目将探讨从初步调查中出现的一个关键谜团：COI作为一个“道德”问题的结晶，通过义务指导方针和道德规范来解决，而不是作为一个“犯罪”问题。因此，这个项目将有助于我们理解国家，市场和道德之间的关系。这些问题将使用混合方法的研究设计，结合档案研究和定性访谈在美国，英国和法国回答。在每个国家，数据收集的重点将是建设印度洋委员会的突出时刻和机构（见支持案例）。它将借鉴PI在精英行政，金融和政府背景下进行研究的经验，这项研究的结果将告知社会学，政治学，历史和公共行政的广泛学术受众。其学术贡献将通过学术文章，会议报告和专著提供。这项研究的目的，以及，有助于更广泛的政策辩论，如何巩固我们的民主制度，通过特别棱镜的COI和COI法规。这将通过以下方式实现：（a）旨在教育公众了解COI的外联活动（论坛版、公开讲座、项目网站），以及B）针对政策制定者的专业发展举措（在公共事务学校开设COI课程，举办学者和政策制定者会议）。