Ethical codes, accountability, and argumentation

To understand demands that political office holders be held increasingly accountable for their action requires an understanding of ethical codes generally. The nature of accountability is discussed dramatistically, and the relationships among codes, accountability, and ethical charges/defenses are discussed in terms of argumentative stases. The discussions suggest a method of descriptive analysis for argumentation about political (and other) accountability. That method is illustrated in a brief critique of the positions of the major Watergate witnesses.