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Political Accountability (political + accountability)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Business, Economics, Finance and Accounting	50%
Humanities and Social Sciences	30%

Selected Abstracts

Royalist News, Parliamentary Debates and Political Accountability, 1640,60

PARLIAMENTARY HISTORY, Issue 3 2007
JASON PEACEY
First page of article [source]

Political Accountability in Hong Kong: Myth or Reality?

AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, Issue 2009
Jermain T.M. Lam
This article assesses the practice of political accountability in Hong Kong: whether it has largely been realised in practice, or whether it is merely a political slogan for the government to justify its executive-led governance. The analysis begins with a review of the theoretical concepts of political accountability and ministerial accountability, and then establishes an operational framework to analyse the current practice of political accountability in Hong Kong's political system. It concludes by addressing the degree of political accountability overall. [source]

Political accountability, public constitution of recent past and the collective memory of socio-political events: A discursive analysis

JOURNAL OF COMMUNITY & APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 5 2010
Cristian Tileag
Abstract This paper presents a discursive analysis of a political news interview as a site for the interactional organization of the public constitution of recent past. In a context of commemoration and finding out the truth about the past, the focus is on how the collective memory of socio-political events and political accountability is managed and what discursive practices representatives of nation-states draw upon to understand and construct ideological representations of socio-political events, namely the Romanian ,revolution' of 1989. The analysis shows how the possibility versus the actuality of knowing the truth about the events, (political) accountability and stake for actions are discussed, framed and given significance by constituting the ,events' of 1989 as ,revolution'. The analysis further reveals how this ascribed categorial meaning is used by the interviewee as background for delegitimizing critical voices and sidestepping responsibility for past actions and knowing the truth. Social and community psychologists can learn more about how individuals and communities construct ideological versions of socio-political events by considering the interplay between questions of political accountability and arguments over the meaning of political categories, and engaging with the accounting practices in which the meaning of socio-political events is being negotiated by members of society Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Responsible, Representative and Accountable Government

AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, Issue 1 2001
Malcolm Aldons
As an evaluation of the health of Australia's political system, this article offers a perspective different from the lament over the loss of responsible government. It finds that responsible government is not compatible with representative democracy. Peculiar to Australia is conflict between ,responsible party government' and ,responsible parliamentary government'. Nevertheless, the system is healthy. A parliament-as-a-whole approach identifies key holistic functions of manifest and latent legitimation and accountability that bolster legitimacy. Political accountability is enhanced by the watchdog role of the media. Public accountability is enriched by the links between citizens and administrative review. Critical changes include the guarantee of senate independence and the removal of senate power over supply. These changes would confine the theory and practice of responsible government to the House of Representatives, promote accountability, and thus increase the legitimacy of Australian parliamentary democracy. [source]

Political accountability, public constitution of recent past and the collective memory of socio-political events: A discursive analysis

The "End Of History" 20 Years Later

NEW PERSPECTIVES QUARTERLY, Issue 1 2010
FRANCIS FUKUYAMA
Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the triumphant celebrations of the West, a new chapter of history has opened featuring the rising powers of Asia, led by China. Though embracing free markets, China has looked to its Confucian traditions instead of liberal democracy as the best route to good governance. Will China manage to achieve high growth and a harmonious society through a strong state and long-range planning that puts messy Western democracy and its short-term mindset to shame? Or, in the end, will the weak rule of law and absence of political accountability in a one-party state undermine its promise? Francis Fukuyama and Kishore Mahbubani, the Singaporean thinker who has become the apostle of non-Western modernity, debate these issues. In this section we also republish a collective memoir by George H.W. Bush, Mikhail Gorbachev, Margaret Thatcher and François Mitterrand, recalling their fears and hopes two decades ago as they brought the Cold War to an end. [source]

Democracy and decentralisation: local politics, marginalisation and political accountability in Uganda and South Africa

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION & DEVELOPMENT, Issue 4 2006
Carol L. Dauda
Abstract While democratic decentralisation is viewed as an important vehicle for development in sub-Saharan Africa, its viability in practice is often doubted. Lack of resources, expertise, marginalised populations and the inexperience of local electors are all barriers to successful decentralisation. However, often overlooked are the diverse ways in which local people use the opportunities provided by democratic decentralisation to engage local authorities and demand accountability. Using examples from Uganda and South Africa,1 this article demonstrates how local people use democratic openings to meet the challenges of marginalisation and demand accountability. While the data is from the mid to late 1990s, the evidence presented here is relevant to the continuing debate over democratic decentralisation for it reveals something that is not always recognised: lack of resources is not necessarily the problem; developing political capacity for demanding accountability for existing resources is what is important. The implication is that for decentralisation to be effective, practitioners must develop a better understanding of local political engagement so that their efforts may strengthen rather than thwart emerging political relations of accountability. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Constitutionalism and credibility in reforming economies1

THE ECONOMICS OF TRANSITION, Issue 3 2006
Raj M. Desai
D72; D73; P20; P26 Abstract There has been relatively little investigation of the effect of constitutional transformations on the economic transition in post-communist countries. We develop a simple signalling model in which constitutionalism , a commitment to limit political power and provide judicial defence of basic rights , reinforces the credibility of pro-market candidates' electoral promises and boosts public support for economic reforms. These findings are tested using opinion poll data on public support for reform in Central and Eastern Europe, and in the former Soviet Union, in the 1990s. In a two-stage procedure we show that public support for market reforms is higher in countries where incumbents have taken deliberate steps to increase political accountability and judicial independence. Public support also spurs actual economic reform. [source]

The Dilemma of Developing Financial Accountability without Election , A Study of China's Recent Budget Reforms

AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, Issue 2009
Jun Ma
Until recently, the discussion on political accountability focused on accountability in democratic systems with free and regular elections. Using China as a case study, this article contends that there exists a possibility of financial accountability without election. However, as election serves the important function of potentially changing the chain of accountability, the route of creating financial accountability without election has its limitations. [source]