Research on accountability in autocracies in Asia: a systematic literature review

'Civil society', 'the market' and 'democracy' are the conceptual 'good guys' that dominate current Western thinking about China's present and future in the social, economic and political realms respectively. Though these ideas are often used in imprecise and tendentious ways, they have considerable analytical and practical power; they reflect real processes and point toward real solutions. This paper sets out to examine how useful the notion of 'civil society' is in describing and explaining social change in contemporary Chinese society. I shall proceed, flrst, by clarifying the specific way in which I intend to use the term 'civil society' and, second, by investigating the empirical utility of the idea through a case-study of one Chinese city.

Against the backdrop of increasing scholarly interest in and social awareness of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) issues over the past few years, this study offers a systematic review of DEIA literature in the public administration field since the murder of George Floyd in May 2020. Based on the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis (PRISMA) selection protocol, 109 articles related to DEIA issues were identified in public administration journals. Findings feature recent DEIA research trends emerging from the selected journal articles in terms of author characteristics, geographic focus, theoretical grounds, and methods. Based on the findings, issues addressed within DEIA research are identified and discussed, and agendas for future DEIA scholarship in public administration are suggested.


 
 
 Civil society organizations (hereinafter called CSOs) are separate entities from the government organizational structure, and they are formed by people who have common needs, interests and values. They are important for organizing social movements at the local and/or international levels. CSOs in Ethiopia have existed as informal community-based organizations and self-help associations. However, formal civil society organization has started to exist with a legal personality recently. In Ethiopia, for a decade and more, as a result of the adoption of the 2009 repressive CSO law, civil society organizations did not entirely take part in their role in the country’s social movements and in the promotion and protection of human rights. However, the said law on several occasions has faced strong criticism from national and international CSOs. Accordingly, recently, in January 2019 the Ethiopian Government amended the preexisting law and enacted a new proclamation, Proclamation 1113/2019. Thus, this paper focuses on the newly promulgated CSO legislation and its role for social movements in Ethiopia, as there are changes made in the system of the CSOs and their activities. Therefore, the paper basically examines the peculiarities of the new Ethiopian CSO law in relation with its role for social movement in Ethiopia. By assessing the positive and the down sides of the new CSO legislation, it investigates the possible contribution of the new Proclamation. It also critically scrutinizes the role of the new CSO law in accelerating and promoting the social movements in Ethiopia.
 Keywords: Civil Society, CSO, Social Movement, New Proclamation, Ethiopia, NGO.
 
 

The western China, especially near the Wenchuan region witnessed a terrible earthquake in the year 2008, which led to some severe damage in the country. Several interviews and studies are conducted to explain the impact of this Sichuan earthquake on the development of the various grass-root associations present in the country.

The growth and direction of public administration as a field are significantly affected by editors and editorial boards of academic and practitioner journals. Rigorous evaluation and selection of research for publication are essential to strengthening the integrity, and, therefore, the identity, of public administration. Through the review process, journals not only establish quality standards but also provide a gatekeeping function, deciding the nature and scope of ideas presented to the practicing and academic communities for discussion. No other mechanism, with the possible exception of professional conferences, is as powerful in determining the boundaries and characteristics of the field. In essence, journals serve as invisible seminar of public administration research., Yet not all publication outlets are equal in terms of their impact. In this article, we identify the journals that pivotal members of the profession consider most valuable as a scholarly forum, and hence, most influential in defining the discipline. Another reason for conducting this research was to provide a more comprehensive evaluation of journal worth. Previous studies have used journal to assess the quality of graduate programs (Jennings, 1989; Legge and Devore, 1987; Morgan and Meier, 1982; Morgan et al., 198 1). Others have used journal rankings as instrument for determining the methodological soundness of empirical research in the field (Houston and Delevan, 1990). According to Colson (1990), having idea of the value of journals may facilitate the appraisal of faculty publication records, especially with respect to tenure and promotion decisions. Also, Colson claims that journal rankings might provide untenured faculty with a better understanding of the most suitable for their research (p. 452). He furthermore states that an improved assessment should also benefit journal editors, research administrators, collection development librarians, information analysts, and other persons who need qualitative measures of stratification among learned publications (p. 453). From both a scholarly and practitioner standpoint, a comprehensive list of journals that reflects their perceived worth can serve a number of practical and research applications. However, journal rankings used in previous research suffer from a number of limitations that restrict their usefulness. To develop a new ranking of public administration journals, and to understand the reasons for the rankings, we must examine the methodologies and limitations of previous research. Assessing Ranking Methodology Three limitations in particular have restricted the utility of previous assessment of public administration journals: (1) no agreement has been reached on the methods that should be used to appraise the relative values of journals to the profession; (2) the individuals and journals sampled for data have been restricted whereas the number and types of journals considered for study have been virtually boundless; and (3) hypotheses have not generally guided the research on journal assessment. With respect to the first limitation, Vocino and Elliot (1982, 1984) evaluated refereed and nonrefereed journals on the basis of prestige, which they interpreted as consisting of two dimensions, intensity and extensity.(2) Using survey data from the years 1975, 1978, and 1981, they discovered that political science journals had declined in prestige and recognition, particularly among practitioners. Moreover, according to the authors, the earlier higher prestige associated with public administration journals indicated the development of the field as a discipline separate from political science. Vocino and Elliot's (1982, 1984) research, however, has been challenged by Colson (1990, p. 452) on grounds that it had weak conceptual validity and poor methodological performance. Fundamentally different from Vocino and Elliot's study, Colson's (1990) assessment of journal quality employed citation analysis as opposed to prestige ranking. …

The focus group method has been used extensively in social science research in order to gain a deep understanding of participant perceptions of specific topics of interest. However, the method has rarely been used in the social accounting and accountability literature. This paper reviews and critically reflects on the key characteristics of the method drawing on a research project examining NGO (non‐governmental organisation) beneficiary perspectives on the accountability processes employed by NGOs in Ghana. It offers insights and future research suggestions that might encourage greater use of the method by social accounting and accountability researchers.

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual framework for improving the interaction between horizontal and social accountability mechanisms for enhanced accountability outcomes.Design/methodology/approach– This is a conceptual paper drawing on six published anti-corruption cases in the Asian region and in theory to develop a framework for understanding and improving the interaction between horizontal and social accountability mechanisms.Findings– The paper proposes that to have more improved interactions between horizontal and social accountability mechanisms, any or all of the following eight conditions must be met. These include, independence and capacity of horizontal accountability agencies; legal backing for horizontal and social accountability interaction; vibrant and independent media; strong partnership of civil society with the media for information dissemination; organisation of civil society into groups; credibility of horizontal and social accountability mechanisms; capacity of civil society (including human and financial capacity); horizontal accountability mechanisms to support and motivate social mechanism to “blow the alarm”.Originality/value– The conceptual framework developed in this paper makes a significant contribution to the accountability literature. In terms of policy, this framework can serve as a tool for governments, especially in Asia, seeking good governance through enhanced accountability outcomes.

NGOs and CSOs have progressively enjoyed easy access to, and better possibilities to affect decision-making processes taking place within the Inter-American Development Bank (‘the Bank’ or the ‘IDB’), including also the most recent decisions of the IDB affecting the relationship between Spain and the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries. Indeed, in particular the increasing intensity of NGO and CSO activities and their involvement in the performances and activities of the Bank and of its governing bodies at different levels and stages show that NGOs and CSOs over the last decade have become essential, though often under-recognized components of the operational structures of the internal governance of the IDB. CSOs may be, and often are, eligible to directly receive financings from the Bank. Starting from a brief introduction of the Bank followed by a set of normative arguments on the key accountability challenges facing the IDB Group, the paper will deal with the issue of NGO and CSO participation in relation to the decision-making process on the IDB Group’s financed operations, investment and programmatic lending operations. It will also consider the social and environmental accountability initiatives that derive from the Bank’s core aims of achieving poverty eradication and effective and sustainable development. In doing so, approaching the topic from an international legal perspective, the paper will first explore the broad and inclusive definition of what constitutes a ‘civil society organization’ for the IDB and its affiliated organizations. Secondly, and in more detail, it will consider the “Strategy for Promoting Citizen Participation in Bank Activities” as approved by the IDB Board of Directors in 2004 in order to expand, strengthen and systematize citizen and civil society participation in the Bank’s activities. Thirdly, the paper will focus on the Guidelines for the functioning of the Civil Society Advisory Councils (the ‘Guidelines’). Fourthly, it will describe how NGO and CSO participation is taken into account by the internal instruments of the Bank envisaging citizen and civil society participation in the IDB’s financial activities (including the most recent activities to enhance the trade and investment relationship between Spain and LAC countries). Therefore, the key features and characteristics of the Guidelines that are of special significance to NGO and CSO participation in the decision-making process on the IDB’s financed operations and in furthering the accountability of the Bank to its constituents – such as the criteria for the establishment and participation of CSOs and NGOs, the notification procedure, the meaning of ‘Civil Society Consulting Groups’, the methods for consultations at operational level, the possibilities for civil society groups and movements, including Spanish civil society groups and movements, to increase human rights and democratic accountability – will all be, in turn, the subject of specific analyses. Finally, the paper will conclude with some observations on the social and democratic accountability of the IDB to civil society and non-state actors, referring in particular to the experience of the internal accountability mechanism established by the IDB’s Board of Governors (the Bank’s highest authority) in 1994 – the Independent Investigation Mechanism of the Inter-American Development Bank (the ‘Independent Mechanism’) – that was established with the aim of “increasing the transparency, accountability, and effectiveness” of the Enhancing Democratic Accountability? 45 Bank and recently replaced by the created Independent Consultation and Investigation Mechanism (ICIM) effective on June 30, 2010.

We theorize that three distinct structures of democratic constraint explain why more democratic dyads do not engage in military conflict with each other. We build on earlier theories that focused on electoral and horizontal accountability. We add a new dimension—the social accountability provided by an active civil society. Using several new measures from the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) data set, we stringently test these explanations. We find social accountability to be the strongest and most consistent predictor of nonbelligerence in dyads, that horizontal accountability is still important, but that the independent role of electoral accountability has been somewhat overstated. However, we do find that social and electoral accountability work strongly together, to make for an even greater effect. The finding is robust to a range of specifications and in the face of controls for contending theories that challenge the democratic peace (e.g., the capitalist and territorial peace theories).

The Flemish Departement of Care wants to improve the level of citizen participation in the organization of integrated, goal-oriented care at the local level. The current practise of including representatives from patients and their caregivers into the decision-making process highlights the needs of chronic patients and their caregivers, shifting the focus away from those that only rarely – or might one day- use the healthcare and/or welfare system. This limits the focus to reactive care, minimizing the use of preventive and pro-active care in primary health and welfare settings. With the Flemish Departement of Care, we are looking for a method to broaden this scope. We want to enable every willing citizen to participate in the organization of integrated, goal-oriented care at the local level. We started a two-tiered process: formulating a broadly accepted vision statement about citizen participation in the decision-making process of local organizations and supporting those organizations into the execution of this vision statement. In this workshop we will bring policy makers and network organizations from different regions together to share best practices. -What good practises are available? -What are the pros and cons of choosing citizen participation instead of patient participation? -What is needed to formulate a broadly accepted vision statement? -What is needed to implement the execution of a vision statement in semi-independent organizations? -What support is needed to maintain citizen participation in these organizations? This session primarily aims to share experiences and bring together knowledge The workshop will be composed of: 20 minutes introduction and context, including a video interview with a local organization that includes patients and citizens into their decision-making process. 15 minutes designing a vision statement concerning citizen participation in the participant’s organization, identifying advantages and disadvantages for this approach (groups of max. 3 persons) 15 minutes selecting methods of implementation and identifying advantages and disadvantages for this approach (groups of max. 3 persons) 10 minutes synthesis and conclusion

Resumo Este trabalho visa compreender as motivações e os fatores que condicionam a participação ativa no controle social, contribuindo para a literatura de administração pública num campo que ainda há espaço para ser explorado. Além disso, fornece subsídios para que os atores públicos possam formular ações que visam fortalecer as iniciativas de envolvimento dos cidadãos com a gestão pública, em especial, por meio das organizações da sociedade civil. Para isso, tem como principais abordagens teóricas as racionalidades instrumental e substantiva nas organizações públicas e as motivações para a participação cidadã. A técnica empregada para o exame das informações foi a análise de conteúdo, com base no qual foi elaborado um roteiro para a realização de entrevistas em profundidade com membros de uma ONG que atua ativamente no combate à corrupção municipal. Os principais resultados apontam para a complementaridade das racionalidades no processo motivacional da participação cidadã no controle social. O estímulo à participação emerge do valor concedido ao exercício do controle social, advindo da racionalidade substantiva, ao passo que a racionalidade instrumental apresenta-se como um meio de garantir a eficiência e a eficácia da atuação comunitária dos cidadãos.

A systematic review of the public administration literature on public engagement and participation is conducted with the expressed intent to develop an actionable evidence base for public managers. Over 900 articles, in nine peer‐reviewed public administration journals are screened on the topic. The evidence from 40 articles is classified, summarized, and applied to inform the managerial practice of activating and recruiting the participation of the public in the affairs of local governance. The review also provides brief explanation on how systematic reviews can fill a need in governance from the evidence‐based management perspective.

This chapter analyzes the different relationships between participatory institutions and social movements in Latin America. While research on social movements rarely pays attention to participatory institutions, since they tend to be introduced by government authorities from the top down and oriented towards consensus, the literature on participatory institutions has been interested in social movements as key promoters, supporters, or participants. One of the most important issues concerning participatory institutions is who participates. What is the role of social movements or organized civil society in this regard? This chapter conceptualizes and describes four types of participatory institution, focusing on the role that social movements play within them. It identifies four types of such roles and then illustrates them with the most paradigmatic example of each one: National Public Policy Conferences in Brazil, Participatory Budgeting in Argentina, Citizen-Initiated Popular Consultations in Uruguay, and Communal Councils in Venezuela. In addition, other Latin American experiences are assigned to one of these four types. The conclusion highlights trade-offs between the different types, noting that the role of social movements in participatory institutions is not always and not necessarily related to more inclusionary participation.

How significant were popular mobilizations like the colour revolutions and the Arab Spring in raising legal regulatory barriers for non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Eastern Europe and the Middle East? How do different types of nondemocratic regimes approach NGO laws and state-society relations? This paper investigates and provides a comparative analysis of the NGO regulatory environment of nondemocratic regimes in Eastern Europe and the Middle East from 1995 to 2013, based on an original dataset measuring the severity of laws for the registration and operation of civic groups. We examine whether the uprisings instigated the passage of legal initiatives designed to curb NGO activism in each region, and assess whether patterns emerge based on differences in nondemocratic regime types. We determined that while NGO regulations have largely increased in Eastern Europe, they have actually declined in the Middle East on average. Moreover, greater NGO regulations exist in authoritarian and closed regimes that approach civil society by erecting clear legal blockades to civic activism. In contrast, hybrid regimes employ more-intricate legal strategies in order to raise the costs of entering and working in the NGO sector without necessarily overtly stifling civic activism.

Public sector management accounting in emerging economies: A literature review