Reinventing

Accountability:
Chapter 4
By Joseph Eziri
 • Vertical Accountability
• Citizens & associations directly use
measures to hold the powerful
accountable (e.g. elections,
lobbying, advocacy)
Accountability
Systems • Horizontal Accountability
• A state actor is given formal
authority to investigate & penalize
the wrongdoings of another state
actor.
Civil Society
& New
• "While citizens and civil society have traditionally been
Accountabilit relegated to participation in vertical channels of
y Forms accountability – voting, advocacy – they have now
begun to take part in those horizontal channels that,
because they involve state agencies checking the
power of other state agencies, have excluded non-state
entities by definition. In other words, the search by
citizens and their associations for new roles has caused
the vertical–horizontal distinction to blur"
 Engagement on:
• Political Accountability Systems
• Judiciary and Law Enforcements
Impact of • Financial Planning & Auditing

Civil Society
(Citizen
Engagement)
 • Lack of confidence & transparency in political systems
• Case #1- Poder Ciudadano (ARG)
• Monitors party spending, public info on politicians' assets,
exposes political corruption

• Case #2- Project Votesmart (US)

• Database of 13,000+ elected officials & candidates (voting
records, issue positions, campaign financies etc)
• "...giving citizens and the media the information they
need to sanction politicians for poor decision-making
or criminal behaviour." (81)

On Political • Deemed ineffective as greater access to information

doesn't nessecarily lead to voter mobilization

Accountability
 On Judicary &
Law Enforcements
• The citizens use of courts bring them closer to "closed official processes"
• Citizens create an ability to horizontally monitor the government

• Case #1- Public Interest Litigation (many nations)

• Civic organizations are able to directly involve government in holding
accountability to whatever is done to marginalized people (e.g. poor peoples)
• "PIL demonstrates that it is possible for citizen-litigants to enter into formal
accountability institutions to become active demanders of answerability in a
forum that carries the weight of enforcement" (92)
 • Public expenditure is normally "closed off" to civil
society
• "Citizens’ organizations are seeking
improvements in both the allocation of public
resources and the probity exercised in their
expenditure" (83)
On Financial • Question of Enforcement- Budget analysis

Planning &
(Answerability) means very little if an audit,
showing proof of financial accounts, can't be
performed
Auditing • Case #1- Participatory Municipal Budgeting (BR)
• Giving citizens a "direct say" in how funds for
local communities are spent, gives the ability
to monitor the execution of works & reviews
budget spending