Corruption, Elites, and Power: An Overview of International Policy Efforts to Improve the Quality of Government

In 1996, the then president of the World Bank James Wolfenson stressed the malign effects of corruption on development, putting anticorruption on his institution’s agenda. Since then, the Bank and many other development institutions have focused on corruption and quality of government. This chapter reviews the different approaches taken to improve the quality of governments while fighting corruption: state structural reform, simplification and reduction of administrative discretion, transparency and accountability initiatives, international agreements and conventions, and specialized anticorruption bodies. This chapter reviews the effectiveness of these approaches and concludes that while there have been some successes, there is relatively little evidence of major improvement in aggregate levels of corruption. The reason for this lies in the political nature of corruption and the powerful incentives of elites to maintain the status quo. The limited impact of anticorruption efforts reflects the fact that the international donor community, often operating in an uncoordinated way, usually does not have the political leverage to shift these incentives.

Social Accountability and Quality of Government

The idea of meeting government failures with social accountability reforms has gained enormous traction. This chapter surveys the existing empirical and theoretical accounts of institutional arrangements designed to empower citizens to hold incumbents and government officials accountable, with a focus on the potential for such initiatives to improve QoG. Empirically, the evidence reviewed suggests that social accountability initiatives are less transformative than hoped, often more effective for detecting leakage than rectifying problems or holding officials to account. The chapter focuses theoretically on what SAIs entail for participants in terms of effort, coordination with others, and expected gains, as well as how contextual conditions affect the functioning of SAIs. While existing research examines contextual conditions, we offer theoretical arguments and empirics from the areas of political economy and institutionalism suggesting that context, and in particular aspects of state capacity, can affect participants’ priors, and thus SAIs success, in ways that warrants further investigation.

The Politics and Struggle of Accountability: A Case Study of Bangladesh’s Ready-Made Garment (RMG) Industry

<p>Accountability mechanisms such as multi-stakeholder accountability initiatives are commonly considered important to improve workers’ rights in developing countries where such rights are allegedly weak and corporate accountability practices often ignore workers’ interests. Several accountability mechanisms have been proposed and developed, but critical accounting and development literature shows accountability remains “elusive” (Belal et al., 2015, p. 55). The focus of this multi-disciplinary study is on codes of conduct (COCs) as an accountability initiative. Existing research points to problems associated with the design and operation of COCs in both developed and developing country contexts. However, these are often treated in a technical and apolitical way with little attention paid to the socio-political contexts in which accountability initiatives are embedded. This study focuses on Bangladesh’s ready-made garment (RMG) industry as a case study. The study critically evaluates the multi-stakeholder accountability initiatives and analyses the views, perspectives, ideologies, contestations and adversarial relations of the key stakeholders regarding the accountability initiatives. To achieve this, the study draws upon Brown’s (2009) dialogic accounting and other scholarly works (i.e., Fougère and Solitander, 2020; Goetz and Jenkins, 2005 and Newell, 2006) based on agonistic democracy theory. This research applies qualitative data collection methods, including interviews with a diverse range of actors and documentary sources. This study extends the recent research that emphasises the possibilities of dialogic accounting to facilitate critiques of neoliberalism and to support democratic development in accounting and accountability practice . In particular, this study extends the previous work by applying dialogic accounting in analysing the accountability initiatives (e.g., Accord and Alliance) within the context of a developing country. By identifying the discourses between powerholders (e.g., multinational brands and retailers, local factory owners) and marginalised groups (e.g., workers) in accountability practices, this study helps to surface the political contestation and provides a basis for advancing understanding of the most effective ways to ensure accountability to and for the marginalised workers. Drawing on the works of dialogic accounting scholars, this study provides an alternative perspective to reimagine accounting and accountability practices. </p>

The Politics and Struggle of Accountability: A Case Study of Bangladesh’s Ready-Made Garment (RMG) Industry

<p>Accountability mechanisms such as multi-stakeholder accountability initiatives are commonly considered important to improve workers’ rights in developing countries where such rights are allegedly weak and corporate accountability practices often ignore workers’ interests. Several accountability mechanisms have been proposed and developed, but critical accounting and development literature shows accountability remains “elusive” (Belal et al., 2015, p. 55). The focus of this multi-disciplinary study is on codes of conduct (COCs) as an accountability initiative. Existing research points to problems associated with the design and operation of COCs in both developed and developing country contexts. However, these are often treated in a technical and apolitical way with little attention paid to the socio-political contexts in which accountability initiatives are embedded. This study focuses on Bangladesh’s ready-made garment (RMG) industry as a case study. The study critically evaluates the multi-stakeholder accountability initiatives and analyses the views, perspectives, ideologies, contestations and adversarial relations of the key stakeholders regarding the accountability initiatives. To achieve this, the study draws upon Brown’s (2009) dialogic accounting and other scholarly works (i.e., Fougère and Solitander, 2020; Goetz and Jenkins, 2005 and Newell, 2006) based on agonistic democracy theory. This research applies qualitative data collection methods, including interviews with a diverse range of actors and documentary sources. This study extends the recent research that emphasises the possibilities of dialogic accounting to facilitate critiques of neoliberalism and to support democratic development in accounting and accountability practice . In particular, this study extends the previous work by applying dialogic accounting in analysing the accountability initiatives (e.g., Accord and Alliance) within the context of a developing country. By identifying the discourses between powerholders (e.g., multinational brands and retailers, local factory owners) and marginalised groups (e.g., workers) in accountability practices, this study helps to surface the political contestation and provides a basis for advancing understanding of the most effective ways to ensure accountability to and for the marginalised workers. Drawing on the works of dialogic accounting scholars, this study provides an alternative perspective to reimagine accounting and accountability practices. </p>

Strengthening Women’s Inclusion in Social Accountability Initiatives

In the last 20 years, social accountability initiatives have facilitated the inclusion and participation of marginalised groups in governance processes. This Policy Briefing focuses on how and what factors prove effective in strengthening women’s voice in processes holding public service providers accountable. We argue that initiatives must: (a) build technical and other forms of capacity amongst women; (b) change formal rules on women’s inclusion; (c) apply political economy analysis to unpack power dynamics, identify actors in favour of gender equality, and build a network in support of women; and (d) make long-term funding commitments for sustainable change in gender-biased norms.

Social exclusion and universal health coverage: health care rights and citizen-led accountability in Guatemala and Peru

Background While equity is a central concern in promoting Universal Health Coverage (UHC), the impact of social exclusion on equity in UHC remains underexplored. This paper examines challenges faced by socially excluded populations, with an emphasis on Indigenous peoples, to receive UHC in Latin America. We argue that social exclusion can have negative effects on health systems and can undermine progress towards UHC. We examine two case studies, one in Guatemala and one in Peru, involving citizen-led accountability initiatives that aim to identify and address problems with health care services for socially excluded groups. The case studies reveal how social exclusion can affect equity in UHC. Methods In-depth analysis was conducted of all peer reviewed articles published between 2015 and 2019 on the two cases (11 in total), and two non-peer reviewed reports published over the same period. In addition, two of the three authors contributed their first-hand knowledge gathered through practitioner involvement with the citizen-led initiatives examined in the two cases. The analysis sought to identify and compare challenges faced by socially excluded Indigenous populations to receive UHC in the two cases. Results Citizen-led accountability initiatives in Guatemala and Peru reveal very similar patterns of serious deficiencies that undermine efforts towards the realization of Universal Health Coverage in both countries. In each case, the socially excluded populations are served by a dysfunctional publicly provided health system marked by gaps and often invisible barriers. The cases suggest that, while funding and social rights to coverage have expanded, marginalized populations in Guatemala and Peru still do not receive either the health care services or the protection against financial hardship promised by health systems in each country. In both cases, the dysfunctional character of the system remains in place, undermining progress towards UHC. Conclusions We conclude that efforts to promote UHC cannot stop at increasing health systems financing. In addition, these efforts need to contend with the deeper challenges of democratizing state institutions, including health systems, involved in marginalizing and excluding certain population groups. This includes stronger accountability systems within public institutions. More inclusive accountability mechanisms are an important step in promoting equitable progress towards UHC.

Benchmarking Food and Beverage Companies on Obesity Prevention and Nutrition Policies: Evaluation of the BIA-Obesity Australia Initiative, 2017-2019

Background: The potential role of the food and beverage industry in addressing diet-related disease is much debated, particularly amidst evidence of the targeted strategies, including voluntary self-regulation, used by the industry to influence policy in their favour. At the same time, the need for more comprehensive action to address unhealthy diets has led to a focus on increasing the accountability of different stakeholders. However, there has been limited evaluation of the impact of accountability initiatives on food and beverage company policies and practices. This study evaluated the impact of the BIA-Obesity (Business Impact Assessment – Obesity and population nutrition) Australia Initiative that benchmarked major Australian food and beverage companies on their nutrition-related policies. Methods: Evaluation was conducted against the pre-specified logic model for BIA-Obesity and established frameworks for analysing organisational change and corporate political activity. Outcomes evaluated included company engagement with the Initiative, level of media coverage, and impact of the Initiative on company policies and practices based on the perspectives of company representatives. A mixed methods design was employed, including surveys and in-depth interviews with company representatives, and media reports. Results: Approximately half of invited companies participated in the evaluation of the BIA-Obesity Australia Initiative. A number of company representatives indicated that the Initiative had influenced their company’s nutrition policies, strategies, and disclosure practices, and had raised their company’s awareness of the importance of addressing nutrition issues. Conclusion: Company representatives perceive benchmarking and accountability initiatives as helpful for provoking improvements in nutrition-related policies and practices in their companies. However, the benefits of these initiatives need to be assessed in the context of the broader political and economic environment. Whilst the focus of accountability initiatives, such as BIA-Obesity, are on industry self-regulation efforts, they can also play an important role in drawing attention to the need for increased government regulation.

The development of a new accountability measurement framework and tool for global health initiatives

The Global Strategy for Women’s Children’s and Adolescents’ Health emphasizes accountability as essential to ensure that decision-makers have the information required to meet the health needs of their populations and stresses the importance of tracking resources, results, and rights to see ‘what works, what needs improvement and what requires increased attention’. However, results from accountability initiatives are mixed and there is a lack of broadly applicable, validated tools for planning, monitoring and evaluating accountability interventions. This article documents an effort to transform accountability markers—including political will, leadership and the monitor–review–act cycle—into a measurement tool that can be used prospectively or retrospectively to plan, monitor and evaluate accountability initiatives. It describes the development process behind the tool including the literature review, framework development and subsequent building of the measurement tool itself. It also examines feedback on the tool from a panel of global experts and the results of a pilot test conducted in Bauchi and Gombe states in Nigeria. The results demonstrate that the tool is an effective aid for accountability initiatives to reflect on their own progress and provides a useful structure for future planning, monitoring and evaluation. The tool can be applied and adapted to other accountability mechanisms working in global health.

Accountability and Initial Teacher Education Reform: A Perspective from Abroad

This article focuses on accountability as a tool for teacher education reform. The article is based on my experience as a teacher education scholar and practitioner over the last 40 years and especially on analyses of teacher preparation accountability in the United States, recently conducted by Project TEER (Teacher Education and Education Reform), a group of teacher education practitioners, researchers, and scholars at Boston College. The members of the group were united by a growing concern about the direction education reform was taking and the impact it was having on teacher education in the US and by a commitment to equity for all the students served in the nation's schools. For five years, we tracked US teacher education reform, concentrating on the major accountability initiatives that were shaping the field. This work culminated in the book, Reclaiming Accountability in Teacher Education (Cochran-Smith et al., 2018). Drawing on this work and on my experience in the national and international teacher education communities, this article has three purposes: to present a framework for unpacking accountability policies related to initial teacher education; to use that framework to describe briefly the dominant accountability paradigm in the US as well as an alternative to the dominant paradigm –democratic accountability in teacher education; and finally, to use ideas from the framework and from our US analyses to comment on the current reform of initial teacher education in Wales.