A deepening crisis in accountability in developing democracies has triggered much debate on accountability and the mechanisms needed for overcoming deficiencies of democracy. This book analyzes a wide variety of contemporary efforts to reform accountability systems in developing countries.

There is a growing acknowledgement of the role played by finance theory and experts in the 2008 global banking crash, and their ongoing contributions to risks in the financial system. Some argue that finance theory is deeply ideological and the academy has been captured and corrupted by financial institutions and conservative journal editors and their unrealistic influence. Its language and terminology have been self-referential, enabling disciplinary closure but generating widening gaps with reality and lived experience. In particular, in spite of its deeply cultural and ethical nature, finance education has been stripped of any wider discussion of ethics and culture, and replaced by a particular neo-liberal greed and materialistic ethic. In an era of financialisation, some have called finance a ‘curse on modernity’. The devastation this has caused and continues to cause is making the world highly unequal, risky and unsustainable. Serious and radical reforms are required in the teaching and research of finance. This book charts out the possible solutions for such reform.

Public accountability is a hallmark of modern democratic governance and the foundation of the popular performance management movement. Democracy is just an empty exercise if those in power cannot be held accountable in public for their acts and omissions, for their decisions, their policies, and their expenditures. This book offers a finely detailed and richly informed consideration of accountability in both government and the contemporary world of governance. Twenty-five leading experts cover varying aspects of the accountability movement, including multiple and competing accountabilities, measuring accountability, accountability and democratic legitimacy, and accountability and information technology, and apply them to governments, quasi-governments, non-government organizations, governance organizations, and voluntary organizations. Together they provide the most comprehensive consideration of accountability currently available, with a blend of theoretical, empirical, and applied approaches.

In this resource the authors integrate a wide array of organizations founded upon a social mission - social enterprises, nonprofits, co-operatives, credit unions, and community development associations - under the rubric of the 'social economy.' This framework facilitates a comprehensive study of Canada's social sector, an area often neglected in the business curricula despite the important role that these organizations play in Canada's economy. This resource presents a unique set of case studies as well as chapters on organizational design and governance, social finance and social accounting, and accountability. The examples provide much needed context for students and allow for an original and in-depth examination of the relationships between Canada's social infrastructure and the public and private sectors. With this work, Quarter, Mook, and Armstrong illuminate a neglected facet of business studies to further our understanding of the Canadian economy.

Few political concepts are as emblematic of our era as democratic accountability. In a time of political and economic turmoil, in which global forces have destabilized conventional relations of political authority, democratic accountability has come to symbolize both what is absent and what is desired in our polity. Situated at the intersection of democratic theory and international studies, Accountability and Democracy provides an in-depth critical analysis of accountability. Through an engagement with several key democratic traditions, both ancient and modern, the book paints a rich picture of democratic accountability as a multi-dimensional concept harboring competing imperatives and diverse instantiations. Contrary to dominant views that emphasize discipline and control, Craig Borowiak offers an original and refreshing view of democratic accountability as a source of mutuality, participation, and political transformation. He both creatively engages conventional electoral models of accountability and moves beyond them by situating democratic accountability within more deliberative, participatory and agonistic contexts. Provocatively, the book also challenges deep-seated understandings of democratic accountability as an expression of popular sovereignty. Borowiak instead argues that accountable governance is incompatible with all claims to ultimate authority, regardless of whether they refer to the demos, the state, or cosmopolitan public law. Rather than conceiving of democratic accountability as a way to legitimize a secure and sovereign political order, the book contends that destabilization and democratic insurgence are indispensable and often neglected facets of democratic accountability practices. For contemporary scholars, practitioners and activists grappling with the challenge of building democratic legitimacy into world politics, the book urges greater reflexivity and nuance in how democratic accountability is evoked and implemented. It offers insights into the myriad ways democratic accountability has been thwarted in the past, while also cultivating a sense of expanded possibility for how it might be conceived for the present.

In this insightful new book, Moncrieffe argues that the traditionally narrow interpretation of accountability obscures relationships, power dynamics, structures, processes and complexities. The relational view, in contrast, seeks to understand the ways in which people perform in their roles as social actors, and how the quality of relationships influences the character of accountability. This book will provide a grounded theoretical background to accountability, using vivid case evidence to emphasize the significance of relational approaches to accountability using empirical data (from Jamaica, Haiti, Ethiopia and Uganda). Ultimately arguing that accountability is much more than a managerial concept; rather, it is deeply social and political. The result is a unique, coherent, perspective that will both explain and 'debunk' this central developmental concept.

How can the seeds of accountability ever grow in authoritarian environments? Embedding accountability into the state is an inherently uneven, partial and contested process. Campaigns for public accountability often win limited concessions at best, but they can leave cracks in the system that serve as handholds for subsequent efforts to open up the state to public scrutiny. This book explores the how civil society "thickens" by comparing two decades of rural citizens' struggles to hold the Mexican state accountable, exploring both change and continuity before, during, and after national electoral turning points. The book addresses how much power-sharing really happens in policy innovations that include participatory social and environmental councils, citizen oversight of elections, local government social investment funds, participation reforms in World Bank projects, community-managed food programs, as well as new social oversight and public information access reforms. Meanwhile, efforts to exercise voice unfold at the same time as rural citizens consider their exit options, as millions migrate to the US, where many have since come together in a new migrant civil society. Since explanations of electoral change do not account for how people actually experience the state, this book concludes that new analytical frameworks are needed to understand "transitions to accountability." This involves unpacking the interaction between participation, transparency and accountability. Oxford Studies in Democratization is a series for scholars and students of comparative politics and related disciplines. Volumes concentrate on the comparative study of the democratization process that accompanied the decline and termination of the cold war. The geographical focus of the series is primarily Latin America, the Caribbean, Southern and Eastern Europe, and relevant experiences in Africa and Asia. The series editor is Laurence Whitehead, Official Fellow, Nuffield College, University of Oxford.

The provision of aid is increasingly under scrutiny with increasing demands for results. This raises the question: what are our expectations from aid and are they realistic? Too often accountability is argued for without questioning if what is understood by the term is relevant or applicable. The Political Economy of Aid and Accountability: The Rise and Fall of Budget Support in Tanzania explores the real meaning of accountability and argues for a new approach to aid more relevant to recipient countries. Offering fresh, insightful ideas Helen Tilley presents a contemporary theory of accountability through a case study of the delivery of general budget support in Tanzania. By considering the wider system of often contradictory political and social relations that influence and in turn constrain donor-government relations she questions the traditional understanding of accountability and deconstructs its epistemological assumptions. Engaging in an interdisciplinary discussion drawing upon economics, sociology, political science, anthropology, psychology and philosophy the book constructs a modern and nuanced understanding of accountability and foreign aid.

In the year 2000, the international community agreed to a framework to address global poverty. This framework, known as the Millennium Development Goals, was time-bound with an end date of 2015. With this end now in sight, the international community is focusing on the achievement of these goals. However, it is also very important that consideration now turns to what will follow the MDGs after 2015. Millennium Development Goals: Looking Beyond 2015 provides a critical analysis of the MDGs and discusses a range of issues that must be considered by the international community in determining what poverty alleviation framework might replace the MDGs. This reflection is made even more imperative as the poverty landscape has shifted considerably since these original goals were made. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy.

The Nat. Performance Rev. (NPR) was launched in Mar. 1993, when Pres. Clinton announced a 6-month review of the Fed. Gov't. to be led by V.P. Gore. This report is the 5th issued by NPR. It provides info. on NPR's 1993 and 1995 recommendations that related to 10 Fed. agencies: DoD, Energy, HUD, Nat. Weather Serv., Census Bureau, HCFA, FAA, and IRS; the Social Sec. Admin. and the GSA. This report: identifies and discusses the factors influencing NPR's reform efforts; provides info. on the implem. status of the recommend. NPR made to 10 agencies; and provides info. about the effects that the 10 agencies reported they achieved by implementing these recommendations.