Accountability

Question 1

narrow accountability

Answer 1

a relationship between an ‘actor’ and a ‘forum’ where the actor is obligated to explain and justify their actions to the forum. the forum has the right to ask questions, pass judgement, and impose consequences on the actor

Question 2

broad accountibility

Answer 2

about promoting good gevernance practices, less about enforcing a strict relationship where actions are questioned and evaluated.
like:
- open to public feedback
- adhering to ethical standards
- responsive to citizens’ needs

Question 3

transparency

Answer 3

acts as a prerequisite for accountability because it provides the forum with the necessary information to ask questions and make judgements. its about making information available to the public

Question 4

4 types of accountability

Answer 4

• nature of the forum
• nature of the actor
• nature of the conduct
• nature of the obligation

Question 5

nature of the forum accountability types

Answer 5

• politcal accountability: elected representatives, politcal parties, voters, media
• legal accountability: courts
• administrative accountability: auditors, inspectors and controllers
• professional accountability: professional peers
• social accountability: interest group, charities, other stakeholders

Question 6

nature of the actor accountability types

Answer 6

• corporate accountabiltity: the organanisation
• hierarchical accountability: one for all
• collective accountability: all for one
• individual accountability: each for himself

Question 7

nature of the conduct accountability types

Answer 7

• financial accountability
• procedural accountability
• product accountability

Question 8

nature of the obligation accountability types

Answer 8

• vertival accountability = refers to a situation where the forum formally weilds power over the actor
• horizontal accountability = a hierarchical relationship is generally lacking between actor and forum, as are any obligations to render account
• diagonal accountability = indirect relation with the forum. forum reports to someone higher up and derives power from this upon the actor.

Question 9

purposes of accountability

Answer 9

• democratic perspective = does accountability help citizens to control government actions?
• constitutional perspective = prevention abuse of power
• learning perspective = enhancing effectiveness

Question 10

problem with accountability

Answer 10

may lead to dishonesty about what you are doing. because of the pressure of having to be accountable to certain situations