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Administrative evil and moral disengagement: The case of torture in apartheid‐era South Africa.

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Title: Administrative evil and moral disengagement: The case of torture in apartheid‐era South Africa.
Authors: Einolf, Christopher J.1 (AUTHOR) ceinolf@niu.edu
Source: Public Administration Review. May/Jun2025, Vol. 85 Issue 3, p641-651. 11p.
Subject Terms: Torture, Moral disengagement, Social injustice, Responsibility, Apartheid, Behavioral ethics, Truth commissions
Geographic Terms: South Africa
Company/Entity: South Africa. Truth & Reconciliation Commission
Abstract: Understanding how administrators can commit unethical acts is an important goal of public administration research. This article tests whether moral inversion, taken from Balfour, Adams, and Nickels' theory of administrative evil, can help explain torture, and also proposes and tests Bandura's theory of moral disengagement. It analyzes testimony from perpetrators of torture who testified before the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 1996–2000. The results support moral inversion, as perpetrators stated that they believed their actions were morally justified. The results also support displacement of responsibility, as perpetrators shifted responsibility away from themselves and toward actors above or below them in the chain of command. However, the analysis does not support the theory of diffusion of responsibility, as perpetrators did not take the silence of officials outside of their chain of command as approval, but instead anticipated their disapproval and tried to conceal their actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Public Administration Review is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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  Data: Administrative evil and moral disengagement: The case of torture in apartheid‐era South Africa.
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Einolf%2C+Christopher+J%2E%22">Einolf, Christopher J.</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<i> ceinolf@niu.edu</i>
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Torture%22">Torture</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Moral+disengagement%22">Moral disengagement</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Social+injustice%22">Social injustice</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Responsibility%22">Responsibility</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Apartheid%22">Apartheid</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Behavioral+ethics%22">Behavioral ethics</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Truth+commissions%22">Truth commissions</searchLink>
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22South+Africa%22">South Africa</searchLink>
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22South+Africa%2E+Truth+%26+Reconciliation+Commission%22">South Africa. Truth & Reconciliation Commission</searchLink>
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  Label: Abstract
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  Data: Understanding how administrators can commit unethical acts is an important goal of public administration research. This article tests whether moral inversion, taken from Balfour, Adams, and Nickels' theory of administrative evil, can help explain torture, and also proposes and tests Bandura's theory of moral disengagement. It analyzes testimony from perpetrators of torture who testified before the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 1996–2000. The results support moral inversion, as perpetrators stated that they believed their actions were morally justified. The results also support displacement of responsibility, as perpetrators shifted responsibility away from themselves and toward actors above or below them in the chain of command. However, the analysis does not support the theory of diffusion of responsibility, as perpetrators did not take the silence of officials outside of their chain of command as approval, but instead anticipated their disapproval and tried to conceal their actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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  Data: <i>Copyright of Public Administration Review is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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        Value: 10.1111/puar.13875
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      – Code: eng
        Text: English
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        PageCount: 11
        StartPage: 641
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      – SubjectFull: Torture
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Moral disengagement
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Social injustice
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      – SubjectFull: Responsibility
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      – SubjectFull: Apartheid
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      – SubjectFull: Behavioral ethics
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Truth commissions
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      – SubjectFull: South Africa
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      – SubjectFull: South Africa. Truth & Reconciliation Commission
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              Text: May/Jun2025
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