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Moral Responsibility of Public Officials: The Problem of Many Hands

American Political Science Review · 1980 · 620 citations · 20 references

TL;DR

In modern states, the multitude of officials and their varied roles complicates attributing moral responsibility, and conventional hierarchical or collective responsibility frameworks distort the concept. The paper argues that personal responsibility, grounded in causal and volitional criteria, offers a superior method for assigning moral responsibility to public officials. The authors analyze when excuses eliminate or mitigate responsibility, establishing a basis for democratic accountability. They find that each causal and volitional criterion aligns with specific excuses officials employ to defend their decisions.

Abstract

That many different officials contribute in many different ways to decisions and policies in the modern state makes it difficult to ascribe moral responsibility to any official. The usual responses to this problem—based on concepts of hierarchical and collective responsibility—distort the notion of responsibility. The idea of personal responsibility—based on causal and volitional criteria—constitutes a better approach to the problem of ascribing responsibility to public officials. Corresponding to each of these criteria are types of excuses that officials use in defending the decisions they make. An analysis of the conditions under which the excuses eliminate or mitigate responsibility provides a foundation for accountability in a democracy.