In
The
Kingdom
of
Individuals (Cornell University Press, 1993), F. G.
Bailey's principal concern is what he calls svejks (pronounced
"shvikes"), that is, individuals in organizations who put their
personal, but not usually financial interests ahead of the organization, and yet
act as if they are loyal to the
organization, using its proclaimed values to defend their actions. This
is not the sort of conflict of interest that is ordinarily dealt with
in government ethics. But what the author
says
about the conflicts of interest in organizations, including
governments, is valuable,
and often fascinating.
So in the next few blog posts, I will riff on ideas raised in this book.