In 1961, President John F. Kennedy signed Executive Order 10930, the first step in a long series of efforts to regulate the ethical behavior of executive branch officials. A few years later Lyndon B. Johnson required all senior officials to report assets and sources of non-government income to the Civil Service Commission. The reaction to Watergate opened the floodgates to more laws and rules: the Ethics in Government Act of 1978, subsequent expansions of that act in the 1980s and 1990s, and sweeping executive orders by Presidents George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton. The consequence of these aggressive efforts to scandal proof the federal government is a heavy accumulation of law and regulation administered by agencies employing hundreds of people and spending millions of dollars every year. Ethics regulation has been one of the steady growth sectors in the federal government for decades. This book explores the process that led to the current state of ethics regulation in the federal executive branch. It assesses whether efforts to scandal proof the federal government have been successful, what they have cost, and whether reforms should be considered. The book's chapters: describe the radical differences between the public service environment of yesteryear and today¡¦s heavy regulatory atmosphere provide an overview of government corruption and integrity in America through 1960 describe the evolution of the regulatory process and political factors that have led to its current incarnation assess the substance of existing ethics regulations as well as the size, cost, and complexity of the enforcement infrastructure employ survey research and other empirical data from various executive branch scandals to measure the efficacy of current ethics regulations Informed by research of unprecedented scope and depth, Scandal Proof provides a balanced assessment of the character and impact of federal ethics regulatory efforts--in

In the third volume of his Proof series, New York Times bestselling author Seth Abramson takes readers on a deep dive into the Ukraine scandal, revealing it to be more sinister, complex, and transnational than previously thought. Abramson’s research on Trump administration corruption positions the Ukraine scandal as the foreseeable culmination of years of clandestine machinations involving scores of players, from Beijing to Budapest, Ankara to Caracas, Warsaw to Jerusalem, Kyiv to Riyadh, and Moscow to D.C. While many know about the July 2019 telephone call that ignited the Ukraine scandal, most don’t know about the concurrent attempts by members of Trump’s inner circle to take over Ukraine’s national gas company and bolster dangerous pro-Kremlin Ukrainian oligarchs—moves that would have benefited Putin and destabilized Ukraine’s government and economy. In Beijing, Trump’s dealings with the Chinese government not only enriched him and his family, but also culminated in him successfully seeking 2020 election interference from Xi Jinping in the form of closely held information about Joe Biden. In Venezuela, many of the actors involved in the Ukraine scandal engaged in similarly secretive, Kremlin-friendly negotiations that undermined U.S. policy. In Syria and Iraq, Trump’s personal indebtedness to autocrats in Turkey, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE cost untold lives. And Abramson brings the story back to an increasingly fractured and depleted United States, where the COVID-19 pandemic exposes the staggering domestic consequences of the Trump administration’s foreign machinations. In Proof of Corruption, Seth Abramson lays bare Trump’s decades-long pattern of corruption. This globe-spanning narrative is an urgent warning about the unprecedented threat posed by a corrupt president and his administration.

This study provides a systematic analysis of the existing practice in the area of asset declarations in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and in some OECD member states in Western Europe and North America.

This book examines government ethics rules and their enforcement in China, as well as in three other jurisdictions for comparative insights. Empirical research methods (involving primarily semi-structured interviews) have been employed to explore the dynamics of actual enforcement policies and practices in China. This book forms an analytical framework through reviewing existing theories on government ethics regulation and general regulation literature and analyzing government ethics rules in the US, the UK, and Hong Kong. Using this framework, it seeks to explore the patterns and features of government ethics rules and their enforcement in China. It shows that the inadequacy of government ethics rules per se and the deterrence-oriented criminal enforcement style of government ethics regulation are important but ignored elements of the problem of rampant corruption in China. Such analysis has generated important and practical policy implications for China's government ethics rules and their enforcement.

First Philosophy: Knowledge and Reality brings together classic and ground-breaking readings on epistemology and the philosophy of science. Andrew Bailey’s highly regarded introductory anthology has been revised and updated in this new edition. The comprehensive introductory material for each chapter and selection remains, and new sections on philosophical puzzles and paradoxes and philosophical terminology have been added. New readings include Edmund Gettier on justified true belief, Wesley Salmon on induction, and Helen Longino on feminist science.