Questions of Accountability: Prerogatives, Power, and Politics

This book explores accountability from a range of perspectives, crossing traditional disciplinary, thematic, and professional boundaries. It asks fresh questions about accountability and its place and importance in democratic societies.

Amidst a backdrop of concerns about democratic back-sliding, the rise of populism, the role of algorithmic governance, moral barbarism, and post-truth politics - to mention just a few issues - accountability has been described as the über-concept of the 21st century.

The book considers the questions raised by the shifting architecture of accountability. Whilst some scholars suggest that accountability processes have never been so effective – trumpeting the rise of 'monitory democracy' with its dense array of watchdogs, sleaze-busters, auditors, legislative committees, statutory supports, and investigative mechanisms – others express concern about the risk of 'overloads', 'gaps', 'traps', and 'going MAD' in the sense of multiple accountabilities disorder. This has led to a focus on 'fuzzy accountability', 'diagonal accountability', and a host of other adjectives that point to increasing conceptual confusion. Bringing together world-leading scholars and former politicians and public servants, the book cuts through this confusion and provides the reader with the answers to the most debated issues, including rarely discussed 'pathologies of accountability', post-human governance, and a focus on proportionality.