City EthicsBreaking the oxymoron: "City Ethics"
We have been batting this around for a while, and have come up with the following list:
Paul Scofield brilliantly plays Thomas More who stands up for his principals against the ultimate difficult boss, King Henry VIIII. In the end, he dies for his faith and his principals, but he gets to become the patron saint of lawyers.
I just watched this 6.5 Minute TED Talk that pulls apart all the reasons that we become "disengaged" in the political process.
I think he has hit the nail on the head - he left me feeling a faint ray of hope - that we can use our power as voters to push for reforms of all of his points.
Please watch - only 6 minutes, and it gives us some answers and maybe a way forward !
https://www.ted.com/talks/dave_meslin_the_antidote_to_apathy
I was fortunate today to see an American film focused almost entirely on local government ethics. Although it is an excellent film, it has not been included in City Ethics' (but not my) Top Ten Ethics Films list or in any of the comments suggesting additions. The film is City of Hope (1991), written and directed by the great John Sayles, most of whose films involve important ethical quandaries.
Lee Drutman’s The Business of America is Lobbying: How Corporations Became Politicized and Politics Became More Corporate (2015) is an excellent book about corporate lobbying at the federal level.
Robert Prentice, McCombs School of Business, University of Texas at Austin
(Robert has developed an excellent website for teaching ethics: 3 series and 44 videos, including teaching notes. One of the best ethics educational resources in the country.)
Please click on the link below for the course document in Word (docx) format.
Course Materials: The Purpose of Government Ethics
Ethical Reasoning: Institutional Corruption was a course held from January 28, 2014 through May 26, 2014 at Harvard College. It was taught by Lawrence Lessig (Law School) and William E. English. The course consisted of 26 lectures and accompanying materials.
