Attention!
Students of the Politics and Bureaucracy & International Administration tracks have priority in this course!
Executive Accountability and Multi-Level Governance
Accountability, a word that a few decades ago was used rarely and in a relatively restricted meaning, now pops up everywhere and has become common in the discourse of government and public administration. Academic understanding of accountability relationships has grown impressively in recent years. This course will examine how shifts from government to governance in the context of local, national and international executives have changed the notion of accountability. The changing institutional context raises fundamental questions about the nature of accountability, who owes accountability to whom and how accountability requirements are best met.
In the seminar sessions, we deal with the accountability of executives in complex systems of multilevel governance; we will unpack the concept of accountability; discuss the evolution of its meaning; address the accountability problem through different disciplinary lenses; and compare the different approaches taken to executive accountability. Typical for modern executives is that they operate in institutional settings that combine patterns of intergovernmental (and often also public-private) co-operation and different democratic arrangements. Such a compound polity is not only characterised by a multitude of accountability mechanisms, but also by multitude of actors. We will explore the way in which the key players in the process of public policy-making and policy-implementation can be held to account by political bodies, the media, NGO’s, by audit commissions and other public watchdogs. We will deal with accountability requirements of different stakeholders and types of accountability; we delve into the changing requirements that accompany globalization and the “hollowing out” of the state. Finally, we explore the implications for managing the problem of accountability of the current emphasis of governing in multi-level governance networks, governing by targets and performance management systems, and governing by increased transparency standards.
Coordinator
Dr. A. Wille
Teaching format
This seminar offers 7 highly interactive intensive work sessions. Full and active participation is required. The final grade is based on assignments during the course and a final paper that combines theory and empirical research.
Course Material
To be announced on Blackboard
Examination
To be announced
Schedule
Lectures: Monday 01/11 – 13/12
Time: 15-18u in room 5B-04
This schedule is subject to change.