000			01658pab a2200181 454500
008			180718b2008 xxu||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d
100			_aBovens, Mark
245			_aDoes public accountability work? An assessment tool
260			_c2008
300			_ap.225-42.
520			_aIn recent years, there has been a drive to strengthen existing public accountability arrangements and to design new ones. This prompts the question whether accountability arrangements actually work. In the existing literature, both accountability `deficits' and `overloads' are alleged to exist. However, owing to the lack of a cogent yardstick, the debate tends to be impressionistic and event-driven. In this article we develop an instrument for systematically assessing public accountability arrangements, drawing on three different normative perspectives. In the democratic perspective, accountability arrangements should effectively link government actions to the `democratic perspective, accountability arrangemens should effectively link government actions to the `democratic chain of delegation'. In the constitutional perspective, it is essential that accountability arrangements prevent or uncover abuses of public authority. In the learning perspective, accountability is a tool to make governments effective in delivering on their promises. We demonstrate the use of our multicriteria assessment tool in an analysis of a new accountability arrangement: the boards of oversight of agencies. - Reproduced.
650			_aAccountability
700			_aHart, Paul T.
700			_aSchillemans, Thomas
773			_aPublic Administration
908			_aN
909			_a77889
999			_c77889 _d77889