PUBLIC POLICIES-FROM THE DILEMMA OF RESOURCES ALLOCATION TO THE ETHICAL DECISION MAKING

Public politicies are institutionalized activities, which develop in the public space and which have to aim at a resource allocation (in a material sense or not) to the members of a community. Public politics aim at the common good of a society or a community, implying the insurance of the best government. Article aims to assess the relationship between public policy and ethics from a theoretical perspective based on three guidelines: public policy-as actions to secure the general welfare (in terms of ethical and political theories), as actions that tend towards an ideal hierarchy of interests (in terms of utilitarianism, contractualism and ironism) and as actions seeking a fair allocation of resources (in terms of public choice theory). Such analysis becomes a challenge as long as, in practice, ethical principles can not be replaced or chosen at random.