Public Accounts Committees in the Pacific Region

Abstract

The purpose of the paper is to investigate whether organizational, institutional and behavioral approaches provide us with a proper framework to understand the functioning of PACs in the Pacific region. By investigating the impact of various organizational characteristics, scope of mandate and political affiliation of committee members, the paper finds that broader rights of access, smaller committee size, better representation of opposition forces on the committee and government chairpersons are associated with higher levels of activity.