Understanding public integrity is nowadays an essential pillar of modern democracies. The evolution of integrity has been characterised by a gradual transition, from a ‘meta-legal’ to a legal space, until the recent ‘enhancement’ of the principle, which regulates the good conduct of public officials, as well as good governance in the public sector. The evolution of this principle is also due to the adoption of many national laws, that have significantly affected the public sector. Indeed, some core values such as good administration in public law and, more recently, the concept of ‘good governance’ in the international dimension have encouraged several reforms, which have questioned the traditional conceptualisation of the public sector and its founding principles. Currently, integrity carries a twofold meaning: it refers both to its individual dimension (each single public employee), and to the institutional and organisational dimension (the office as a whole). The paper deals with the evolution of the concept of integrity through the philosophical, legal, political and administrative perspectives.
