Global Accountabilities: Participation, Pluralism, and Public Ethics

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511490903

Accountability is seen as an essential feature of governments, businesses and NGOs. This volume treats it as a socially constructed means of control that can be used by the weak as well as the powerful. It contributes analytical depth to the diverse debates on accountability in modern organizations by exploring its nature, forms and impacts in civil society organizations, public and inter-governmental agencies and private corporations. The contributors draw from a range of disciplines to demonstrate the inadequacy of modern rationalist prescriptions for establishing and monitoring accountability standards, arguing that accountability frameworks attached to principal-agent logics and applied universally across cultures typically fail to achieve their objectives. By examining a diverse range of empirical examples and case studies, this book underscores the importance of grounding accountability procedures and standards in the divergent cultural, social and political settings in which they operate.

‘This book’s creative critical (re)constructions of global accountabilities are extremely welcome. 'Accountability' is so ascendant in contemporary global governance, perhaps even aspiring to the kind of pivotal position once held by 'sovereignty' in Westphalian world politics. These authors show us how the new discourse can enable rather than frustrate societal betterment.’

Jan Aart Scholte - Co-Director, Centre for the Study of Globalisation and Regionalisation, University of Warwick

‘Global Accountabilities provides a treasure chest of analytic insights in this era where innovations are desperately needed to overcome fractured and ineffective accountabilities across the state, business and civil society.’

Simon Zadek - Chief Executive of AccountAbility, Senior Fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University and author of the award winning book The Civil Corporation

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Contents

Frontmatter
pp i-vi
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Contents
pp vii-viii
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List of tables
pp ix-ix
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List of figures
pp x-x
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Acknowledgments
pp xi-xi
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List of contributors
pp xii-xiv
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1 - Introduction: forging global accountabilities
pp 1-24
- By Edward Weisband, Chair Professorship Department of Political Science Virginia Tech, Alnoor Ebrahim, Associate Professor Harvard University
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Part I - Public accountability: participatory spheres from global to local
pp 25-26
- By Ngaire Woods, Fellow in Politics University College, Oxford
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2 - Multilateralism and building stronger international institutions
pp 27-44
- By Ngaire Woods, Fellow in Politics University College, Oxford
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3 - Global financial governance and the problem of accountability: the role of the public sphere
pp 45-64
- By Randall D. Germain, Associate Professor of Political Science Carleton University
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4 - Citizen activism and public accountability: lessons from case studies in India
pp 65-86
- By Anne Marie Goetz, Research fellow University of Sussex, Rob Jenkins, Professor University of London, Birkbeck
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Part II - Experiments in forging NGO accountability: mutuality and context
pp 87-88
- By L. David Brown, Lecturer Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations, Harvard University
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5 - Multiparty social action and mutual accountability
pp 89-111
- By L. David Brown, Lecturer Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations, Harvard University
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6 - Not accountable to anyone? Collective action and the role of NGOs in the campaign to ban “blood diamonds”
pp 112-130
- By Ian Smillie, International development practitioner and writer Ottawa
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7 - Bringing in society, culture, and politics: values and accountability in a Bangladeshi NGO
pp 131-148
- By David Lewis, Reader London School of Economics
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Part III - Reflective accountability: new directions for participatory practices
pp 149-150
- By Lisa Jordan, Deputy Director Governance and Civil Society Unit at the Ford Foundation
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8 - A rights-based approach to accountability
pp 151-167
- By Lisa Jordan, Deputy Director Governance and Civil Society Unit at the Ford Foundation
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9 - Evaluation and accountability in emergency relief
pp 168-192
- By Coralie Bryant, director of the Program in Economic and Political Development School of International and Public Affairs Columbia University
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10 - Towards a reflective accountability in NGOs
pp 193-224
- By Alnoor Ebrahim, Associate professor Harvard University
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Part IV - Global accountability frameworks and corporate social responsibility
pp 225-226
- By Michael R. MacLeod, Assistant Professor Department of Humanities & Social Science Clarkson University
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11 - Financial actors and instruments in the construction of global corporate social responsibility
pp 227-251
- By Michael R. MacLeod, Assistant Professor Department of Humanities & Social Science Clarkson University
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12 - Public accountability within transnational supply chains: a global agenda for empowering Southern workers?
pp 252-279
- By Kate Macdonald, Tutorial Fellow in the Government Department London School of Economics
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13 - Tripartite multilateralism: why corporate social responsibility is not accountability
pp 280-306
- By Edward Weisband, Professorship in the Department of Political Science Institute for Policy and Governance.
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14 - Conclusion: prolegomena to a postmodern public ethics: images of accountability in global frames
pp 307-339
- By Edward Weisband, Senior Research Fellow Institute for Policy and Governance
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Index
pp 340-352
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Global Accountabilities

Participation, Pluralism, and Public Ethics

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Contents

Frontmatter
pp i-vi

Contents
pp vii-viii

List of tables
pp ix-ix

List of figures
pp x-x

Acknowledgments
pp xi-xi

List of contributors
pp xii-xiv

1 - Introduction: forging global accountabilities
pp 1-24

Part I - Public accountability: participatory spheres from global to local
pp 25-26

2 - Multilateralism and building stronger international institutions
pp 27-44

3 - Global financial governance and the problem of accountability: the role of the public sphere
pp 45-64

4 - Citizen activism and public accountability: lessons from case studies in India
pp 65-86

Part II - Experiments in forging NGO accountability: mutuality and context
pp 87-88

5 - Multiparty social action and mutual accountability
pp 89-111

6 - Not accountable to anyone? Collective action and the role of NGOs in the campaign to ban “blood diamonds”
pp 112-130

7 - Bringing in society, culture, and politics: values and accountability in a Bangladeshi NGO
pp 131-148

Part III - Reflective accountability: new directions for participatory practices
pp 149-150

8 - A rights-based approach to accountability
pp 151-167

9 - Evaluation and accountability in emergency relief
pp 168-192

10 - Towards a reflective accountability in NGOs
pp 193-224

Part IV - Global accountability frameworks and corporate social responsibility
pp 225-226

11 - Financial actors and instruments in the construction of global corporate social responsibility
pp 227-251

12 - Public accountability within transnational supply chains: a global agenda for empowering Southern workers?
pp 252-279

13 - Tripartite multilateralism: why corporate social responsibility is not accountability
pp 280-306

14 - Conclusion: prolegomena to a postmodern public ethics: images of accountability in global frames
pp 307-339

Index
pp 340-352

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Global Accountabilities

Participation, Pluralism, and Public Ethics

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