Reviewing Procedure vs. Judging Substance: How Increasing Bureaucratic Oversight Can Reduce Bureaucratic Accountability

How does the scope of review affect bureaucratic policymaking? To explore this question, I consider a policymaking environment in which an expert agency develops policy that is upheld or overturned by an overseer who may have different policy goals. The agency can affect the quality of implementation through effort investments in addition to choosing the substantive content of policy. Under procedural review the overseer only reviews the agency’s effort, which allows the agency to fully utilize its expertise. Substantive review also tasks the overseer with judging agencies’ substantive policy choices, which can lead the agency to disregard its superior information and obfuscate to avoid reversal. Depending on the policy environment, this dynamic can either benefit or harm the overseer. In some cases the overseer can be made better off by having less transparent review institutions; that is, institutions that direct the overseer to only review procedure and preclude judging substance.

Bureaucratic Accountability and Public Sector Management in Nigeria: Examining the Issues, Challenges and the Way Forward

The main objective the public sector in Nigeria seeks to achieve is policy initiation, formulation and implementation for the well-being and welfare of the citizens. However, over the years, the sector has been plagued with declining service delivery and moral bankruptcy. This article within the framework of social exchange theory examined the dynamics of bureaucratic accountability, the nexus between bureaucratic accountability and public sector management in Nigeria. It is usually the public that suffers from a malfunctioning public service. Nigerian citizens look up to public servants for protection against various ills in the society and the provision of essential services. If the involvement of public servants in the political, economic and social life of the country is considered, we shall better appreciate the needed urgency in making the service accountable for its actions. It argues that for Nigeria to match forward, there is need for effective, efficient, patriotic and committed public servants, who should be accountable for their stewardship. The article recommends that unless the Nigeria public sector is revitalized and "dead woods" therein removed, Nigeria and Nigerian will continue to experience deep-seated frustrations in the often-touted desire to move the nation forward. Key Words: Accountability, bureaucracy, government, service delivery, patriotic

#Metoo/#Aidtoo and Creating an Intersectional Feminist NPO/NGO Sector

The purpose of this essay is to explore the implications of #metoo and #aidtoo for understanding nonprofit/nongovernmental organization (NPO/NGO) theory and practice. We provide an overview of how women have experienced sexual violence in the context of NPOs/NGOs and draw on an intersectional feminist theory lens to highlight the context that enables violence to persist, and which requires more than implementing bureaucratic accountability reforms. We end by discussing potential avenues for creating change to end such violence.