A “Formula” to Describe Social Accountability

By Gladys Honey Selosa

SOMETIMES THE BETTER way of explaining a difficult concept is to frame it as a pseudo mathematical formula—a metaphorical equation, if you like, that breaks down the core elements of the concept and shows how they relate with each other.

I thought I would try this with social accountability through the following formula:

SAc Formula

 

G       =       Quality of Governance (G>1, good governance, low or no corruption; G<1=bad governance, high corruption)

T       =       Transparency

A       =       Accountability

P       =       Participation

SAc   =       Social Accountability

C       =       Corruption (corruption ≥ 1)

The Media, Government Accountability, and Citizen Engagement

By Katrin Voltmer

Forthcoming in Pippa Norris (ed.): Public Sentinel: New Media and the Governance Agenda, Washington DC: The World Bank, 137-159. This paper was first presented during a Harvard-World Bank Workshop on "The Role of the News Media in the Governance Reform Agenda", held May 2008.

This paper explores the notion of accountability and how it can be applied to the relationship between governments, citizens, and the media in transitional democracies. In it, Katrin Voltmer explores the normative expectations underlying government accountability, social accountability, and media accountability - contrasting them with professional journalistic practices that generate a kind of news coverage that often falls short of these ideals. Because the media are not assimilated by viewers and readers at face value, Voltmer goes on to explore research that has been conducted to better understand the media's influence on citizens' politics.

Voltmer's argument is premised on the claim that democratic accountability encompasses not only political power holders but also the citizens and the media that link governments and citizens. She observes that the ability and willingness of the citizens to engage in political life, in addition to the quality of public communication, play an important part in strengthening the link between those in power and the citizenry. Voltmer suggests that collective accountability means civic engagement that goes far beyond voting: "if citizens are ignorant about political issues, do not make an effort to have a say, despise their representatives, and do not believe in democratic values, then the viability of that democracy might be seriously at risk - even if the institutions are perfectly designed."