(Sample Material) Study Kit on Current Affairs for UPSC Mains Examination
Ethics & Integrity: Need for Ethical Empowerment as Social and Political Reform A Ranga Reddy
If men behave like angels no government is needed, Thomas Mann once said that in this modern age man’s destiny leads him back to politics: political activity is one of the most visible aspects of public life and the current Westphalian model of the nation—State has dominated human history for the last few centuries.
Empowerment is a process of giving more power by engaging both the hearts and minds of people so that they can take the opportunities available to them for greater responsibility and to create a credible, trustworthy and a value model. Ethical development certainly brings mental balance, contentment, standard nature and everlasting society over this earth.
CIVILISATIONS AND UNETHICAL ACTIONS
Most of the civilisations have been destroyed as a result of internal corruption than the external aggression, and regimes have collapsed on the erosion of their moral authority by deep-seated and prolonged corruption. There are number of such instances even in modern times. During the last years of his tenure as Prime Minister; Lloyd George, in England collected funds by virtual auction of honours; and the funds which should have gone to the Liberal Party coffers, bad been diverted to his personal political fund. It is unlikely that he never turned for his personal expenditure the money he received; but the stench of the honours scandal had given rise to such strong repugnance that in spite his great achievements as a war leader, and also in domestic affairs, no chances were of his becoming Prime Minister again. In the process, the Liberal Party too suffered grievous damage. The fall of Kuomintang under Chiang Kai shek provides another instance of the destructive effect of corruption. The defeat and disintegration of the Government of South, Vietnam, in spite of massive support from the USA and also their direct, prolonged military involvement, present yet another example of the fatal consequences of political corruption, and unbridled acquisition of wealth and privileges by those favoured by the regime, Nixon’s, case was a more recent instance of the disastrous consequences of adoption of totally unethical means, including outright lying, in pursuit of political ends. A powerful President had an ignominious exit under the threat of impeachment and prosecution and the pressure of a morally outraged public opinion, and partly as a reaction against Watergate, the Jimmy Presidency that followed after the next election showed concern for moral and human values.
