Accountability and Interactive Governance

Abstract

Many contemporary forms of governance differ from the traditional Wilsonian, Westminster or Weberian models of hierarchical coordination. Many of these new forms of governance have been understood as interactive forms of governance, where governments cooperate with experts, private businesses, non-governmental organisations or individual citizens in the formulation and/or implementation of public policies. Interactive governance challenges both traditional conceptions of accountability based on strict hierarchical lines of delegation and more recent governance structures modeled along the principal-agent framework. In interactive governance, the responsibility for decisions and implementation becomes opaque, which thwarts existing systems of accountability. A key discussion is thus whether interactive forms of governance enhances or constrains accountability. This panel seeks to advance our understanding of the tensions and relationships between interactive governance and accountability. The panel seeks to answer questions on three levels. We are first of all looking for empirical studies of interactive governance, where papers assess how specific examples of interactive governance – where governments share the burdens of decision-making and policy implementation with citizens, experts, private businesses or NGO’s – affect accountability. The panel also looks for papers that extend empirical insights into a conceptual discussion of how interactive governance and accountability relate. Authors might look at interactive governance as a form of accountable governance in and of it self, but might also look at how interactive governance impacts traditional, hierarchical governance or how the involved parties are held accountable themselves. Finally, the panel will discuss the implications of interactive governance for existing theoretical and normative models of accountability, in an age where governments often resort to interactive forms of decision-making and implementation.

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