Democratic self-governance protects those under its jurisdiction from the arbitrary exercise of power, by either those who would otherwise be able to dictate terms to others, or those who might abuse the authority entrusted to them. It requires a distribution of power that will enable any given group to hold to account anyone in that group whose actions impact on the lives of others. In this chapter, we will look at why a democratic balance of power needs to be sustained by an effective system of public accountability, what problems can arise from responsibility being misplaced, and how the prevailing approach to accountability can be enhanced.

Why we need public accountability

When people can carry out a relatively straightforward assessment of how particular cases of cooperation will help them, and they can easily see that everyone is doing what they have agreed to do, they will most likely be confident about working together. However, when the arrangements are at the level of a vast organisation (not to mention a country or an international body), it is much more difficult to pinpoint exactly who should do what, keep an eye on whether agreed roles are being properly fulfilled, or if the hoped-for benefits are achieved and properly shared out.

One way to maintain collaborative working arrangements is to assign clear responsibilities to individuals and put in place a system for checking and adjudicating to ensure that we can rely on them in carrying out their duties. So long as people are confident that those with the relevant power can be held to account for their judgements and actions, they will be more disposed to trust them to act in accordance with public expectations.

Unfortunately, vigilance can all too easily subside. Since the 1980s, a combination of complacency about how much democratisation has already helped to achieve, and the advancement of the plutocratic agenda for governments to serve the wealthy elite (Mayer, 2017), has led to the exponential rise in cynicism about the accountability of public institutions.

As the connections between citizens and those in government at all levels weakened, the New Right advocates began to exploit the accountability gap. They champion the smaller state, and further dismantle accountability arrangements in the name of cutting down bureaucracy, while insisting that they uniquely can be trusted to serve the public without such arrangements.