The defence integrity system relies on numerous elements, including systems of internal controls to regulate the ethical and business conduct of employees. Often these regulations are formalised in Codes of Conduct. This article, based on the internal controls programmes of defence ministries and armed forces in 32 nations, forms an international study of the state of current regimes to address this issue in defence establishments. It assesses programmes on the basis of whether they are compliance-or ethics-based, the strength of regulations pertaining to bribery, gratuities/gifts and hospitality, conflicts of interest, and postemployment procedures, as well as training and dissemination of ethics and business conduct programmes. While some countries had well-developed regimes, others had poorly developed regulations in many cases, suggesting a pressing need to raise standards internationally in the field of ethics and business conduct in defence establishments.
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