Talk:Neutrality/Notes

This page holds references that I will use to develop this article(See: Neutrality):

Summarizations

From 1, 2, and 3, in the role of government/public/civil service, neutrality is an automatic job requirement in order to perform functions of the government.

From 4,

"At the end of the day, then, Woods has a perfectly reasonable financial justification for zipping his lips and changing the subject, and frequently. However, the Homeric hero--which we take him to be--is not merely a man of great material worth, but also a paragon of virtue. We should not put Woods on the pedestal on which we've already placed him unless we are convinced that his financial justification for political reticence and a lack of political action constitutes an appropriate moral justification."

Speaking of moral justifications, 5 discusses the difference between impartiality and morality; as they are two seperate categories often lumped incorrectly together (as a positive trait). Additionally, impartiality can be applied when deciding amongst say, job candidates whose qualifications are based on merit, and a group of people who you need to ensure to have equal protections and care(not merit). To quote from the same page:

"Many attempts to characterize impartiality fail to respect the distinction between the broadest, most formalistic sense of the notion, and a more specifically moral impartiality. To say, for instance, that an impartial choice is one that is free of bias or prejudice is to presuppose that we are dealing with a certain sort of impartiality, that which is required or recommended by morality, or at least worthy of moral approbation. ‘Bias’ and ‘prejudice’ are loaded terms, suggesting not only that some consideration is being excluded, but also that the exclusion is appropriate and warranted. Similarly, the idea that impartiality requires that we give equal and/or adequate consideration to the interests of all concerned parties goes well beyond the requirements of the merely formal notion. (In the coin toss case, it is quite clear that Phil's claims to the heirloom are not being given equal or adequate consideration.) As a characterization of moral impartiality, however, this suggestion is considerably more promising."

From 6,

"The constitutional role of the civil service is to support the serving Chief Executive and his Government. The two features of the civil service, namely permanency and political impartiality, enable it to perform such role. The permanent nature of the civil service provides stability and continuity to the governance of Hong Kong through changing times and changing political leadership. The permanency of the civil service goes hand-in-hand with its political impartiality. The civil service must be politically impartial in order to serve the Chief Executive, the Principal Officials and the Government of the day - whatever their political persuasion - with total loyalty on the one hand; and to retain the confidence of - and serve with equal loyalty - a future Chief Executive, future Principal Officials and future Government of perhaps a different political persuasion on the other.

The concept of a politically neutral civil service does not mean that it needs not engage in any work with political content. It means that the civil service must give full support and commitment to the Government of the day. In making policies, civil servants put forward honest and impartial advice on policy options formulated by the Government of the day to their best abilities. Once decisions are taken by the political tier, civil servants will, regardless of their own personal convictions, implement the decisions taken and discharge their public functions without fear or favour. Traditionally, senior civil servants have been involved in work with political content, such as explaining and defending government policies and decisions, and lobbying for support for them. With the introduction of additional political appointments, the political team will play a more important role in this aspect of work. However, this does not mean that civil servants, particularly senior officers, need not engage in such work in the future. There is no incompatibility with civil service political neutrality for them to take on such work. Nevertheless, under the principle of upholding the core value of political neutrality, civil servants should not engage in certain political work, such as election politics or personal electioneering activities or those of political parties. "

Freely available weblinks

Political Neutrality

http://www.peterlevine.ws/mt/archives/2005/11/political-neutr.html

https://drum.umd.edu/dspace/bitstream/1903/4088/1/umi-umd-3868.pdf

http://dspace.rice.edu/bitstream/1911/13692/1/1355171.PDF

Philosophy

http://www.bilkent.edu.tr/~wigley/simonwigleyenvy-free.pdf

http://era.anthropology.ac.uk/Era_Resources/Era/Stirling/Papers/Impartiality/impartiality_1.html

http://cowles.econ.yale.edu/P/cd/d14b/d1477-a.pdf

Judicial

http://jec.unm.edu/resources/judicial_handbook/ethics/index.htm

Political

http://www.doi.gov/ethics/docs/eg02unbooked.pdf

Research/Subscription weblinks

JSTOR:

Neutrality and the Emergence of the Concept of Neutralism Peter Lyon The Review of Politics, Vol. 22, No. 2 (Apr., 1960), pp. 255-268 This article consists of 14 page(s).

Review: [Untitled] Reviewed Work(s): The Concept of Neutrality in Classical Greece by Robert A. Bauslaugh Author(s) of Review: W. J. McCoy The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 114, No. 2 (Summer, 1993), pp. 317-319 doi:10.2307/295318 This article consists of 3 page(s).