الأربعاء,28 سبتمبر 2011 - 12:00 ص
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The concept that individuals and agencies, whether operating in the public or private sector, are held responsible for executing their powers properly. In democracies, it is characterized as the relationship between a leader and the persons s/he is accountable to.3
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In theory, there are three forms of accountability: diagonal, horizontal and vertical.
? Diagonal accountability is when citizens use government institutions to elicit better oversight of the state’s actions, and in the process engage in policy-making, budgeting, expenditure tracking and other activities.
? Horizontal accountability subjects public officials to restraint and oversight, or ‘checks and balances’ by other government agencies (i.e. courts, ombudsman, auditing agencies, central banks) that can call into question, and eventually punish, an official for improper conduct.
? Vertical accountability holds a public official accountable to the electorate or citizenry through elections, a free press, an active civil society and other similar channels.
Example in practice
In Costa Rica, the existence of three branches of government, as well as two autonomous state authorities with equivalent responsibilities (electoral and auditory branches), has created horizontal accountability and allowed for a separation of powers among state agencies, which are constitutionally empowered to take action against one another when required.
Relevant links
—— AccountAbility.
—— National Endowment for Democracy, Institutionalizing Horizontal Accountability.
3 National Endowment for Democracy, Institutionalizing Horizontal Accountability: how democracies can fight corruption and the
Transparency International, Combating Corruption in Judicial Systems
Transparency International, United Nations Human Settlements Programme, Tools to Support Transparency in Local Governance (Kenya and Berlin: 2004).
United Nations Development Programme, Human Development Report 2002 – Deeping Democracy in a Fragmented World (New York: OxfordUniversity Press, 2002).
D Brinkerhoff and A Goldsmith, ‘Clientelism, Patrimonialism and Democratic Governance: An Overview and Framework for Assessment and Programming’, Abt Associates prepared for USAID, 2002. http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/Pnacr426.pdf