Suchergebnisse

One of the key themes of the current debate on the structural reform of local government is accountability. Seeks to clarify what accountability is and to identify the conditions under which it might be said to be at its best. (Abstract amended)

"In vielen Gesellschaftsbereichen hat die Frage nach Accountability an Bedeutung zugenommen; sogar von einem 'Age of Accountability' ist die Rede. Allerdings verläuft die Diskussion in unterschiedlichen Forschungsfeldern parallel zueinander, ohne dass die jeweiligen Ansätze zu einer weitergehenden Konzeptualisierung bisher merklich aufeinander Bezug nehmen würden. Anhand von drei ausgewählten Beispielen (die Regulierung des Internet, Public Private Partnerships, Corporate Social Responsibility) werden in diesem Beitrag Entwicklungen in Erwartungen, Beziehungen, und Praxen illustriert. Ziel ist es, Bausteine für ein Analysekonzept von Accountability zu entwerfen, das bereichsübergreifend Anwendung finden kann." (Autorenreferat)

This article investigates what generates and sustains the centrality of accountability as an enduring motif of organizations and contemporary forms of organizing. The article uses a study of malaria interventions to explore the means through which accountability endures. First, the article engages with the burgeoning literature on accountability to explore the ways in which the continuing prominence of accountability is explained. Second, the article turns attention to interventions in malaria and specifically the production of accounts and distributions of accountability in this field. It will be argued that one means through which accountability has endured is through a heretofore un-discussed parasitism. Third, the contribution that parasitism can make to the academic literature on accounts and accountability will be considered. The article will suggest that it is the very features of accounts and distributions of accountability that enable such parasitism and that accountability becomes parasitic upon the organizational form.

Texto presentado en la conferencia "Institutionalizing Horizontal Accountability", Viena, junio de 1997, coorganizada por el Institute for Advanced Studies de Viena y el International Forum for Democratic Studies.