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After over a decade of crisis, the ECB's functions have expanded considerably, which in turn altered its relationship with other institutions. In particular, when the ECB assumed the role of Banking Supervisor under the Single Supervisory Mechanisms, it was generally accepted that this role would require more accountability than its traditional role in monetary policy. Yet, accountability requires transparency. However, there is a dearth of studies on the transparency of European banking supervision, and the few that exist are usually single case studies. This leaves us without a point of comparison that would help us understand what constitutes a 'transparent banking supervisor'. Therefore, the aim of this article is to situate the transparency of the ECB within the wider literature on the transparency of banking supervisors. This allows us to pinpoint more precisely its strengths and shortcomings and the potential for reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On 5 April 2016, Iceland's prime minister became the first high-profile casualty of the Panama Papers investigations published around the world two days earlier, stepping down after reports of his family's hidden offshore wealth triggered massive public protests. The resignation was widely hailed as a demonstration of the power of investigative or "accountability" reporting to activate democratic citizens and effect real-world change. This paper reconstructs the Panama Papers reporting in Iceland as an important new case study in the growing literature on the impacts of journalistic revelations. Drawing on in-depth interviews, we ask what this dramatic case tells us about how major exposés produce political outcomes, as well as how the journalists involved understood the potential impacts of their work. We show that even in what looks like a clear-cut case of the so-called "mobilization model"—where change results from the public's response to a story—more complex dynamics are at work: Reporters worked actively to maximize the impact of their work, understanding these efforts in terms of its inherent newsworthiness, and the ultimate outcome of the revelations was shaped by a cycle of interactions between media and political actors that began well before publication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To assess the potential of a paper diary for strengthening accountability in public agricultural extension services. Therefore a paper diary called 'Diary for Agricultural Extension Officers' was developed and tested in Uganda. A qualitative case study research approach was applied for the development and assessment of the diary. Data were collected using focus group discussions and individual face-to-face interviews. Data analysis was conducted using the content analysis method. Paper diaries can strengthen accountability in public agricultural extension services by enabling alignment of the extension activities of the field agents to the goals of the extension service and to the needs of the beneficiaries, in addition to mitigating information asymmetry about the extension activities. However, the implementation of paper diaries requires sensitization of the beneficiaries on the need for verification and feedback. This study is centred around addressing a practical problem of field agents' accountability and results have the potential to improve management of public services such as agricultural extension. Moreover, the findings could also be relevant for all types of organizations and service delivery methods. This study expanded the boundaries of the principal-agent theory by applying it to the accountability of agricultural extension services using paper diaries, which have hitherto not been widely applied. This study advances the debates of accountability and coordination of agricultural extension services by assessing the potential of a paper diary as the literature has to date assessed the potential of electronic diaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of international systemic reforms promoting professional standards for teachers and inclusivity of diverse students in schools, this paper presents and demonstrates conceptual means by which educators can critically respond to the uncomfortable couplet of standardisation and difference. This is primarily achieved by theorising alternative ways of making sense of difference. Core to the argument is that standards can become more than prescriptions for educating in the same way when teachers recognise their positionality, examine the socio-cultural context of their work, and take action to ensure equality or equity of opportunity within the classroom. The paper is presented in three sections. The first section addresses the use of teaching standards in the United States and Australia, examining various ways inclusive education is articulated as a standard for practice. The second section engages theory from critical disability studies as a fillip to thinking differently about disability. The final section creates conceptual space for educators to move effectively between different intentions – their own as practitioners, the profession's standards, and socio-material conditions involving ethics and accountability. On the whole, conveyed throughout the paper is the necessity for teachers to orientate towards contextual sense-making of professional standards to support inclusive practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Public Money & Management is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

According to its own description, the biomedical meta-database PubMed exists "with the aim of improving health—both globally and personally." Unfortunately, PubMed contains an increasing amount of low-quality research that may detract from this goal. Currently, PubMed warns its users and protects itself from such problems with a disclaimer stating that the presence of any article, book, or document in PubMed does not imply an endorsement of, or concurrence with, its contents by the NLM, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), or the U.S. Federal Government. However, we are critical of a "disclaimer-only" stance and encourage PubMed to take further action against low-quality research being found and indexed in its database, and thus available for use. To address this problem, we offer two lines of reasoning to argue that PubMed should not function merely as a passive index of health-related research. Instead, we first argue that only trustworthy published research is able to further PubMed's goal of health improvement. Secondly, on the basis of surveys, we argue that researchers place a high level of trust in articles that are referenced in this meta-database. We cannot expect any one set of actors to ensure trustworthy content on PubMed, which requires collective responsibility among authors, peer reviewers, editors, and indexers alike. Instead, we propose a curation-based model that incorporates three mechanisms of collaborative content curation: open expert feedback on indexed content, journal auditing, and constant transparent reassessment of indexed entities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite widespread criticisms, governments around the world have adopted Value for Money (VfM) analysis as a key metric in gauging the prospective value of infrastructure projects. This paper examines the institutional processes through which VfM is rendered defensible as a form of valuation. Drawing on a case study of Infrastructure Ontario in Canada, the paper demonstrates that this involves strategies for partitioning space and time, including boundary work, objectification, phasing and outsourcing. We argue that the institution of delays and distances ultimately fosters the displacement of subjectivity in the valuation process while entrenching distinctively financialized understandings of value. Moreover, we demonstrate that this is driven not so much by the organization's desire to control the future but by a defensive orientation that sets out to ward off potential critiques that may arise from project failures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I offer a descriptive and normative analysis of the requirements for effective transnational solidarity between southern NGOs and their northern partners. Drawing on interviews conducted with staff members of Senegalese women's rights NGOs and a private international development foundation, I contend that existing theories of feminist transnational solidarity cannot allow us to properly acknowledge the power asymmetries and obstacles to solidarity that these NGOs are facing. After assessing the divisions related to gender interests and limited resources that characterize this NGO-ized development landscape, I develop a partial theory of transnational solidarity that would center power asymmetries in order to address practical and political obstacles to solidarity. I argue that an effective account of transnational solidarity must include a commitment to disrupting global hierarchies of power as well as to building practices of accountability and attentiveness to power structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evidence of football fraud and how it can be addressed is fragmented in the literature, lacking a holistic view. This paper provides a holistic understanding of fraud in professional football through a comprehensive framework that encompasses (i) the typologies and methods of perpetrating fraud in football, (ii) the enablers of football fraud, and (iii) how to mitigate fraud risk in professional football. Additionally, it highlights literature gaps and suggests new directions for future research to open up academic debates on this significant topic. The findings show no evidence of external fraud reported in the literature. However, insider fraud, particularly corruption in all its forms, is well documented. There is minimal evidence of other insider fraud types, such as asset misappropriation and financial fraud, and even fewer studies discussing fraud against football players and fans. The analysis highlights various fraud risk factors in football, ranging from financial and sporting performance, competitive balance, and financial regulation issues to the lack of accountability, anti-fraud controls, governance mechanisms, and weak integrity culture in FIFA and football clubs. The paper summarizes various other motives and opportunities enabling football fraud and proposes a holistic framework for mitigating fraud risk in football. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effective, accountable and transparent institutions, that engage in inclusive and participatory governance, are crucial for the sustainability of global development investments. However, there is a debate about whether effective approaches to improving governance processes operate from the bottom up (e.g. by enabling citizens to hold service providers accountable) or the top down (by enabling service providers to be held accountable by the State). This paper systematically reviews participation and accountability mechanisms in a range of sectors, drawing on principles of realist evaluation to develop and test middle-range theory using framework synthesis and statistical meta-analysis. We show that interventions promoting citizen engagement through participatory priority setting or accountability mechanisms are often effective in stimulating active citizen engagement in service delivery and realising improvements in access to services, where they facilitate direct engagement between service users and front-line service providers, such as in health care. However, citizen engagement interventions alone are not effective where services are accessed independently of service provider staff, for example road infrastructure. Interventions promoting participation by increasing citizens' pressures on politicians to hold providers to account are also not usually able to influence service delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Does top-down accountability spur bureaucrats to improve service provision? This paper highlights the potential drawbacks of top-down accountability for building a responsive bureaucracy. Based on an online survey experiment involving 923 bureaucrats in China, we find that bureaucrats are less responsive to citizens' needs when they are exposed to the risk of being sanctioned and the recent remedial policy of principled tolerance cannot offset such effects. In contrast to scholars arguing that increased top-down accountability pressure improves government responsiveness, these findings imply that insulating bureaucracy allows them to do their jobs more responsively. The findings enhance our understanding of accountability and responsiveness in China and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the effects of performativity on the culture of a Scottish secondary school, Lochview High School. This is set against a backdrop of the Scottish education policy context which in recent years has been heavily focused on reducing the poverty-related attainment gap, namely through the Scottish Attainment Challenge (SAC). The analysis of the empirical data is supported by a cultural and ecological framework which emphasises the interwoven and complex nature of the school system. In particular, the paper provides a critique of accountability and performative agendas which often run counter to other national agendas, such as the SAC. Through observations, staff interviews (teachers and senior management), and student interviews, task-based activities and group discussions, the data suggests performative and accountability measures are inextricably woven through the education system within which Lochview is situated. Despite this, Lochview provides a case study of a school which successfully navigates competing agendas. However, it is not without its struggles, but the school community often finds rewards and benefits in the positive school culture which develops as a result of responding to the local community's needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The number of empirical studies focusing on NGO accountability practices remains limited. This paper responds to this gap. It presents the accountability practices identified in an empirical study of a nongovernmental development programme in Tanzania. Drawing on data collected through field work and analysed through coding, visualisations, and detailed descriptions, this study observed how practices constituting this development programme were held together by accountability practices. This paper analyses these accountability practices: (a) prescribing–reporting–verifying, (b) measuring, (c) contracting, and (d) capacity building, learning, and acting together. It demonstrates how these accountability practices facilitate the coordination of this development programme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The new ECB leadership made it its explicit priority to make ECB’s policies greener. Although doubt remains about the scale and effectiveness of the policies implemented since then, the idea that the ECB has a role to play in the fight against climate change has become widely accepted. The main narrative in support of this idea states that the ECB’s pro-climate engagement is part of its primary mandate – price stability. However, until not long ago, ECB’s primary mandate was rather used by those opposing the greening of central banking, while it was largely ignored by pro-climate advocates. How has this narrative emerged and gained traction? This paper argues that this narrative results from a process of coalition-building between pro-climate central bankers and pro-climate politicians in the European Parliament. Building on a multi-method text analysis of original datasets of accountability communications as well as in-depth interviews, this paper documents the mechanisms through which pro-climate central bankers and pro-climate MEPs co-constructed the pro-climate narrative, using accountability relationships as a coalition-building arena. The paper contributes to ongoing discussions on central banks’ accountability, politicisation and role in the green transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Narrative reporting, both in relation to financial and non-financial information, is increasingly used and often mandated, with significant managerial discretion regarding content. As policy makers consider reporting as a tool for regulation to steer the behaviour of companies towards improving practices and performance upon which they have to disclose, the aim of this paper is to provide the state of the art in the academic literature on narrative reporting and identify future challenges. In order to do so, the paper investigates three questions: (1) How has the quality of narrative reporting been defined? (2) What narrative information is required and used by various stakeholders? (3) What are the real effects of narrative reporting? In answering these three questions, our review also gives implications for both future academic research and policy makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rise of performative culture in education and intensifying forms of test-based accountability have subjected teachers to a ubiquitous 'field of judgment' through which they are held to account. Within this context, professional development is consistently deployed as a key solution to stagnant or declining student outcomes. In this paper, we examine how accountability might be reimagined through one approach to professional development known as Quality Teaching Rounds (QTR). We draw on Foucault's notion of panopticism and Ball's influential writings on performativity to analyse interviews with 21 educators from 14 schools in New South Wales, Australia, conducted during a 2014–2015 randomised controlled trial. Participants highlighted the pervasiveness of testing and test results in shaping their experience of teaching in a system of perpetual surveillance where numbers bite deep into practice. By contrast, participation in QTR afforded teachers rare spaces of freedom within the structure of performativity to collaboratively focus on pedagogy. We argue meaningful professional development can alter the field of judgment and enable teachers to reclaim accountability on their own terms, while maintaining a clear focus on student outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2000, girls' education has been an increasingly high-profile concern in international development policy. At the same time, there has been a trend towards the greater production and reliance on quantitative data, indicators and targets in national and international education policy. Scholars have raised concerns about the rise of 'performance-based' approaches to accountability in education, and potential counterproductive effects of this for social justice and equality. However, few studies have explored how this trend plays out in practice within international organisations, particularly in relation to the heightened focus on girls' education. This paper explores the implications of the increasing reliance on quantitative measures for policy actors and draws on a set of interviews with key stakeholders working in organisations concerned with gender and education to explore their divergent understandings of accountability processes. The paper concludes by reflecting on the prospects for a transformative approach to measuring gender equality and girls' education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increased attention to gendered violence has led to a burgeoning of different community-based programmes designed to support men and boys to adopt more inclusive and respectful masculinities. Accompanying this attention has been a proliferation of guidance materials to support facilitators to critically reflect on their identities and practice to enact their work in gender just ways. In this paper, we explore issues of reflexivity, ethics and accountability in how facilitators work with men and boys. Through three facilitator stories, we consider processes of reflexivity in relation to facilitators: 1) recognizing their intersectional selves, 2) acknowledging and learning from prejudice, and 3) bringing an ethics of openness and vulnerability to their work. We argue that these areas of reflexivity are central to gender transformative facilitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changes to elected leadership in Australian local government have seen greater authority assigned to mayors in several jurisdictions. A Discussion Paper recently released under the auspices of the Australian Centre for Excellence in Local Government (ACELG) has recommended further reforms, arguing inter alia that mayors ought to enjoy a personal mandate and a stronger strategic role. This paper places these suggested reforms into context by developing a typology of local government leadership from political theory. We argue that this quadrilateral typology provides a critical portrait of recommendations for stronger leadership which, in this instance, have been transposed from two unitary systems of government (England and New Zealand) to the Australian federal system, without due consideration of the literature examining stronger mayoral roles. It is argued that caution should be exercised when redrafting legislation governing mayoral authority, a process presently underway in New South Wales (NSW). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article adopts tools from political science and political anthropology to re-evaluate the prevailing discourses of accountability and marketisation that continue to shape education policies across the developing world. Following an exploration of studies promoting the quasi-marketisation of education and reforms that empower parents to exercise their voice and choice, this paper adopts principal–agent theory, social dominance theory and concept of the everyday to argue that such community-centric policies – which were initially devised to offset the capture of education by the state – may de facto lead to the education landscape becoming intrinsically politicised and reflective of national political discourses, albeit not in the way we conventionally believe. It argues that parents can no longer be regarded as passive, apolitical agents in education discourse. Rather, citizens' interests are continually in conflict, and in a marketised system designed to respond to the interests of more dominant parents, schools may become sites in which inter-group contestations and competing political beliefs are reified. This article invites us to revise our current understanding of education and politics, and question: What – or whom – do we define as political, and why is this becoming increasingly important? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multiple authorship is becoming increasingly common in bioethics research. There are well-established criteria for authorship in empirical bioethics research but not for conceptual research. It is important to develop criteria for authorship in conceptual publications to prevent undeserved authorship and uphold standards of fairness and accountability. This article explores the issue of multiple authorship in bioethics and develops criteria for determining who should be an author on a conceptual publication in bioethics. Authorship in conceptual research should be based on contributing substantially to: (1) identifying a topic, problem, or issue to study; (2) reviewing and interpreting the relevant literature; (3) formulating, analyzing, and evaluating arguments that support one or more theses; (4) responding to objections and counterarguments; and (5) drafting the manuscript and approving the final version. Authors of conceptual publications should participate substantially in at least two of areas (1)–(5). [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The opening of data has been credited for improving transparency and for providing a window on government functioning. Although this relationship is intuitively apparent, it is in fact complex and the mere opening of data might not actually yield transparency. In this paper, a comprehensive model of determinants that enable or impede transparency enabled by open government data and the expected effects have been derived by surveying public administration and information systems literature. Public administration literature tends to be focused on factors such as participation and trust, whereas information systems literature focuses on factors such as user interface, user experience, and data quality. Digital government literature attempts to bridge these elements. The Window Theory is introduced, in order to unify existing models by integrating a broad range of factors within a single model. The Window Theory can be used to develop context-dependent models that are both comprehensive and parsimonious. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The goal of the public procurement of pharmaceuticals is to purchase sufficient quantities of high-quality pharmaceuticals at cost-effective prices for a given population. This goal can be undercut if corruption infiltrates the procurement process. Good procurement practices can help mitigate the risks of corruption and support equitable access to affordable and high-quality medicines. Objectives: This paper aims to 1) examine manifestations of corruption in the pharmaceutical procurement process and key factors behind them, and 2) identify how to design and implement effective anti-corruption, transparency and accountability mechanisms within this process. Methods: This paper was informed by a narrative literature review from 1996 to the present. The search focused on publications that addressed the issue of pharmaceutical procurement and governance and corruption issues. Our search included peer-reviewed literature, books, grey literature such as working papers, reports published by international organizations and donor agencies, and some media articles. Some documents used in this paper were already known to the authors. Results: Procurement is highly vulnerable to corruption particularly in the health sector. What is more, corruption in the procurement process does not appear to be limited to any one level of government or type of health system. The better integration of accountability, transparency and anti-corruption mechanisms in the procurement process is needed to reduce the risk of corruption. Conclusions: Lessons learned suggest that anti-corruption, transparency and accountability mechanisms in the pharmaceutical procurement process, such as open contracting and integrity pacts are helpful towards reducing the risk of corruption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Excellent marketing has always emanated from a deep understanding of consumer needs and expectations, combined with their right to be informed, protected and their right to quality of life. Evidence for this fundamental bedrock of marketing is provided. The problem is that in 2009 "marketing" just doesn't mean "good marketing", or even "honest marketing" and is widely seen as "mismarketing" in practice, largely the result of marketing's demotion to promotion and puffery. Evidence is provided for this view. The paper then makes some suggestions about possible new initiatives/directions for the discipline. These are: • the name marketing itself • making the discipline truly professional • making marketing fully accountable for its expenditure The accountability issue, however, is, in the author's view, the principal way to rescue the discipline from demise, so the bulk of the paper concerns this issue and sets out an agenda for research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper concerns accountability and agency concepts in governance reforms in Indonesia. The country's economic crisis in 1997, which snowballed into social and political crisis, triggered the country to reform the governance of the ministries by transferring government functions from ministries to agency-type organizations. However, this reform has led to rising questions about the accountability arrangements of the newly formed organisations which are oriented to agency-based governance. In addition, there are several different arrangements for these agencies. This study aims to analyse the extent to which accountability is accorded in various types of agencies. In doing so, the study uses typology of the government agencies as a tool to understand the accountability through its autonomies. The results indicate that the variety of agencies' forms requires a different accountability setting, which is not being met in the current regulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Global Partnership for Education (GPE)/Education for All (EFA) seeks to reduce poverty and bridge inequalities through the provision of quality education in developing countries. This paper sets out to accomplish two main objectives: (a) examine the extent to which the Ghana Partnership for Education Grant (GPEG) retained its pro-poor intentions during the course of implementation, and (b) examine if/whether GPEG eschewed resource capture by the political elite. A mixed methodology approach was employed in this study. Findings of the study showed the program was largely implemented in a pro-poor manner and was also devoid of the elite capture of resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper, a critical examination of educational concepts, policies and practices, presents findings from research into the impact of accountability agendas on teacher professionalism and pedagogic practices. The study, theoretically framed through Halstead's notions of contractual and responsive accountability, and Gramsci's hegemonic practices, examined secondary arts teachers' pedagogical autonomy and professionalism in England and New Zealand. We provide an overview of current education policy contexts in both countries, and their impact upon secondary school arts education (years 11–16). Drawing from interview data from 15 England and New Zealand teachers, we offer a critique and innovative counter-narrative for the accountability measures currently dominating English schooling. Drawing together perspectives from both jurisdictions, we suggest more inclusive, democratic and responsive assessment and performative measures for the English context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teachers' work in India is impacted by the ongoing restructuring of school education that incorporates simultaneous attempts at reform and regulation. Child-friendly assessment policy instituted by the local bureaucracy leads to intensification of teachers' administrative roles, drawing their attention away from critical pedagogic ones. Limitations in policy interpretation are found to be in response to the official discourse of efficiency that manifests in performative measures of accountability inconsistent with the intended reforms. In this ethnographic case study in an urban middle school for poor, teachers' attempts to comply with instruments of accountability while adapting to changing pedagogic relations with their students and achieve coherence in their identities are examined. The paper draws attention to the contrasts between models of good teaching held by teachers, vis-à-vis the official discourse. It argues for a reworking of the existing model of accountability towards incorporating a cultural-political conception of pedagogy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThis paper deals with practices of personal mobility in public space, such as walking, passing-by and queuing, and their intelligible, recognizable and intersubjectively coordinated character. People co-exist in public places without having to explain their conduct in so-many-words; they smoothly navigate by coordinating their bodies and mobile trajectories without collisions; they queue without any instructions and differentiate between who joins the queue and who projects to butt in the queue. This article addresses the intelligibility of walking trajectories in public space, how they are bodily achieved and visibly interpreted. It reflects on mobility by relying on the notion of public in two different but complementary perspectives: a) by reference to mobility in the context of public places such as parks, squares, and streets; b) by reference to the public intelligibility and recognizability of mobile actions in social interaction. The convergence between these two notions of public enables us to investigate how mobile social actions are formed (made recognizable) and how they are ascribed (actually recognized) by co-present unacquainted persons in public space. The analysis draws on video recordings of mobile trajectories in streets, pathways, and squares. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The key feature of EU Smart Specialization is experimentalist governance, or the idea that policy principals only partially possess the necessary knowledge for policy design and implementation. Instead, discovering policy priorities, designing instruments, and detecting and correcting errors are the responsibilities of a wide range of innovation stakeholders. However, particularly in institutionally less developed countries and regions, there is often a clash between the requirements for experimental governance and the public policy demand for predominantly procedural accountability. Our central argument is that the experimentation dimension cannot be added to the conventional policy cycle without altering it. This results in a trade-off between experimentation and accountability, leading to four disconnected governance regimes: EDP, design, implementation, and M&E. This paper demonstrates this issue in the case of Croatia's S3. Using the concept of a dynamic policy cycle, we critically examine different solutions to experimentation and highlight their deficiencies. Our analysis and conclusions are highly relevant for countries and regions adopting experimental policy approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares approaches to accountability in US charter schools and English academies. We examine the development and main characteristics of these two types of schools before assessing how they are accountable, to whom, and for what. Drawing on both primary and secondary sources, we explore the consequences of the accountability mechanisms in each jurisdiction. Our comparative analysis assesses the different and multiple forms of accountability to which charter schools and academies are subject. We discuss the similarities that exist in the two jurisdictions, albeit that the most consequential sanctions – closure of charter schools and transfer of academies – differ between countries. The final section concludes and highlights policy implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Student evaluation of teaching (SeT) is ubiquitous in higher education but has been criticized by many scholars because of low use for course improvement benefiting student learning. Academic developers (ADs) are responsible for pedagogical courses and to support leadership and academics in processes enhancing educational quality. We could therefore expect ADs to play a key role in SeT practice. This paper investigates how Norwegian ADs and Academic Development Units (ADUs) are engaged in SeT practice. Norwegian academic leaders of twelve ADUs are interviewed about ADs' roles and responsibilities in evaluation policy and SeT practice. The empirical data are analyzed by using the terms 'accountability' and 'professional responsibility' aiming to better understand the use of SeT. Before the turn of the millennium, ADs were actively engaged in SeT practice, but our study found that they are no longer central actors and little time is spent on the topic in pedagogical courses. Today evaluation is dominated by accountability logic and is professionalized by administration and leadership. We will argue that there is a potential to strengthen SeT as a tool for educational development by inviting ADs into evaluation policy development and by including evaluation as part of pedagogical courses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amazon's Ring relies on infrastructural obfuscation to hide their infrastructures through urban camouflage (as doorbells, floodlights, sensors) while simultaneously expanding the carceral state and extending the industrial police-surveillant state. Through a critical analysis of the Ring surveillant assemblage, this paper reveals the way Ring and its associated apps produce fear and paranoia of the racialized Other, promote community buy-in that more surveillance will improve safety, while obscuring private partnerships with local law enforcement. I argue Ring cannot be viewed in isolation from its entangled corporate owner, Amazon, which relies on an ever-expanding infrastructural network, including surveillance of their highly prized package delivery service. Ring is more than individual community members installing doorbells with cameras that extend beyond their property into public space; it is the blurring of boundaries between police work and civilian surveillance, the reliance on obscured digital infrastructures that hide to whom and what users are connecting when they install a Ring device, and the expansion of Amazon's vast infrastructural power. By recentering critique on the infrastructural backbone, made up of discourses and fixtures, this paper argues for the need for infrastructural accountability from companies such as Amazon, who not only profit from fear, but actively reproduce structural violence through their data infrastructures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main aim of this paper is to investigate how sexist ideology distorts our conceptions of sexual violence and the hermeneutical gaps such an ideology yields. I propose that we can understand the problematic issue of hermeneutical gaps about sexual violence with the help of Fricker's theory of hermeneutical injustice. By distinguishing between hermeneutical injustice and hermeneutical misfire, we can distinguish between the hermeneutical gap and its consequences for the victim of sexual violence and those of the perpetrator of such violence. I then argue that perpetrators are both morally responsible and accountable for their acts, even if they are the result of a hermeneutical misfire. Ultimately, I show that with regard to sexual violence, we should opt for accountability to change the behaviour of the perpetrator and the social structure. Content warning: The paper discusses sexual violence and difficulties conceptualising experiences of such violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between governments and legislatures is founded upon a confidence agreement, whereby the executive derives its authority from, and is accountable to, the legislature. As heads of government, prime ministers are crucial political actors in parliamentary systems, yet there is little understanding of how they are held accountable by legislatures. What are the mechanisms through which parliamentarians may question them? How do such mechanisms vary, and how do procedural rules affect questioning and accountability? This paper builds on theoretical foundations from comparative legislative studies and presents the first survey of mechanisms through which parliamentarians may question prime ministers in 31 parliamentary democracies. It draws on research on parliamentary rules of procedure, followed by a consultation with practitioners on matters of convention and practice. It presents novel classifications and typologies of parliamentary questioning mechanisms that include prime ministers along six key dimensions, thus filling a crucial gap in executive-legislative studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how trust in teacher professional judgment has been reconstituted through the globalised trends of performative accountability and reductive data-driven logics. The article draws upon empirical research from interviews with teachers and school leaders as well as observations of teacher preparation days, classroom and staff professional learning communities (PLCs), as part of a larger study of schooling practices in two geographically and contextually bound Queensland public schools. The paper focuses attention upon the socio-political, material-economic and cultural-discursive conditions inscribed in how data are currently understood and deployed, and how these conditions constrain trust in teachers, devaluing teachers' own professional judgment. Specifically, we flag how the practices and conditions that constrained trust were manifest in a) pressures to ensure teachers generated and collected data on an ongoing basis to substantiate their claims about student learning, and b) a perceived mistrust amongst parents and a subsequent need to justify decision-making on the basis of 'hard evidence'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2013, the European Union has aimed to harmonize the public sector accounting (PSA) of its member states by developing European Public Sector Accounting Standards (EPSAS). As a prerequisite for consistent EPSAS, a conceptual framework (CF) is to be developed which includes an explicit selection of purposes. Providing an international comparative view with the theoretical underpinning of Nobes' classification, this paper presents a literature-based systematization of PSA purposes. Our systematization is applied to three CFs: one international (IPSAS) and two national (from the USA and Germany, respectively). Through a normative discussion, we conclude that accountability is preferable as the overall accounting purpose. This theoretical lens is used to evaluate the recent status quo of the ongoing EPSAS CF project. This paper thereby develops relevant implications for accounting theory and offers a starting point for standard setters and scholars to prioritize purposes for PSA with respect to different legal frameworks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

EPSAS are being considered in the EU context where a need for harmonisation in Governmental Accounting (GA) has been recognised as important to increase the reliability of sources of information to the National Accounts (NA) figures. However, GA and NA are two different and parallel reporting systems at national level, even if, within the European context, EPSAS intend to contribute for their convergence. The relationship between GA and NA has been recurrently addressed in the literature over the last two decades, with professionals being more proactive while academics have been more reactive in the debate. Several issues have been raised. This paper recaptures and revises these issues, synthesising academic and practitioner literature, archival documents and reports of EU working groups, from 1996 to 2018. The analysis highlights the more controversial areas, and those that seemed already settled but yet are now, within the context of EPSAS development, being raised again. Specifically, the paper calls attention to (1) the need to manage between two different conceptual frameworks of GA and NA; (2) the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration between the professionals involved, namely accountants, public administrators and statisticians; (3) the role of budgetary accounting and the alignment required between reporting in GA and NA, reducing and harmonising adjustments to be made when translating data from one into the other; and (4) the need to address auditing issues, as EPSAS on their own may not be enough to ensure reliability of the information reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The public policy framework of the public–private partnerships (PPPs) projects has long been a subject of inquiry in developing countries. Researchers have mainly explored public policy frameworks as a regulatory tool to enhance project performance in public sector projects. Yet, PPP projects have remained unattended in terms of governance and financing. Using empirical evidences of project implementation, this article explores the relevance of a public policy framework for public–private project financing along four project implementation dimensions: efficiency, fairness, legitimacy and accountability. This article aimed at enriching existing public policies on PPPs in developing countries. It also focused on sharing individual country's experiences amongst developing countries: specifically, the paper shows how a public policy on PPPs project financing may be formulated in a developing country like Kazakhstan. The study developed a public policy framework for PPP projects and project finance model, adaptable to the developing country's specificities. The model was seen as an integral element of the public policy framework for PPP projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1974, the media and cultural studies scholar James W. Carey called for the development of a culture of press criticism, engaging with daily journalism at the same level of analysis of language that literary critics use when assessing literature. This paper examines Carey's call in light of both the developments in journalistic criticism since his writing as well as other scholarly attempts to assess press criticism. Finding a lack of humanistic approaches to assessing press criticism, this paper distills Carey's essay into a more readily usable rubric for the assessment of the critical conversations surrounding journalism, identifying six dimensions of analysis by which to judge the criticism, with a focus on the criticism of language and a dialogic relationship between the press and the public. Finally, the paper applies the rubric to a case study of the response to a New York Times profile of a white nationalist. Dozens of works of criticism—public commentary, essays by scholars, satire, and public discussion—were published in response to the piece. This paper concludes that the beginnings of Carey's culture of criticism may finally exist, aided by social media tools that allow a broader public to participate in the critical conversation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using evidence from English and Scottish fire and rescue services from 2010 to 2016, this paper shows how divergent performance management regimes can affect public accountability. Performance management regimes enable agencies and the public to hold public sector organizations accountable by facilitating evaluation of their accomplishments. However, local as opposed to central, control over performance management can have quite different implications for public accountability. The findings reported in this paper will encourage public sector policy-makers and managers to reflect upon how far particular performance management regimes enable them to facilitate improved accountability to the communities they serve. On one hand, localism policies can lead to deficits in accountability. On the other, policies that focus on centralized targets and independent scrutiny can deliver stronger accountability while maintaining local responsiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A substantial amount of research evidence has been gathered regarding the pathologies of accountability, but less attention has been paid to the reasons why such pathologies occur in the first place. The paper addresses this issue by exploring accountability in the context of Habermas' theory of lifeworld colonization. The paper explores the value of the colonization thesis to modern day issues associated with the "regulatory state", that form of state governance with surveillance and enforcement strategies at its core. It takes seriously the contribution that Habermas can make to the field of public administration – a contribution that can position the field in its broader context of democratic governance. At the same time, it is accepted that there are limitations of the colonization thesis as an explanatory device, with the paper arguing that not all the consequences of accountability can be considered illustrative of a damaged communicative intersubjectivity. Specifically the paper turns to the concept of street-level bureaucracy for further refinement of Habermas' ideas around governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While it is reported that a large part of the mining activity abroad comes from Canada, a robust regulatory framework for addressing human rights violations committed by Canadian mining companies is lacking in Canada. From Canadian and international law perspectives, this paper addresses the issue of accountability of Canadian companies who commit human rights violations while operating in foreign countries. The paper discusses reports of human rights abuses by Canadian corporations and the jurisdiction of Canadian courts in cases of alleged violations committed abroad. It analyses selected recent decisions from Canadian courts as case-studies and argues that legal reform is needed to ensure accountability of Canadian corporations operating abroad and access to civil law remedies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper revisits our knowledge of sport organization governance design archetypes. To do so, we focus on Canadian national sport organizations (NSOs) and pose three research questions: (1) what governance design archetypes exist based on the use of more contemporary criteria; (2) how easily can an NSO's archetype be determined; and (3) what are the implications of these new archetypes for researchers and practitioners? We undertook a landscape study of 32 Canadian NSOs with data from an online survey, publicly-available information, and clarification calls. Archetypes were derived from 47 organizational and governance characteristics using a k-means cluster analysis. Our empirically-derived archetype design taxonomy showed the best fit to be four clusters (Board-led, Executive-led, Professional, and Corporate) based on key organizational values, complexity, capacity, revenue sources, and governance variables. Besides knowing NSOs are more heterogenous than in the past, researchers and practitioners can use capacity, efficiency, horizontal differentiation, broadcast revenue, political accountability, and social media information to derive an NSO's governance archetype. These findings imply researchers can (1) examine non-profit sport organizations' changes over time based on a set of archetypes reflecting contemporary realities, and (2) compare and contrast NSOs' governance more holistically. In turn, managers can better compare their NSO with other NSOs to optimize their organization's performance. Finally, national sport agencies/funders should support NSOs' governance improvement efforts through flexible guidelines and resources because of NSOs' governance heterogeneity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reflects on compulsory school self-evaluation in Ireland. It sets important historical and contemporary context by documenting the development of a culture of evaluation in Ireland throughout the 1990s and into the new millennium before charting the rise of school self-evaluation during the austere economic conditions of post-2008 Ireland. Three key reasons are proposed for the rise of school self-evaluation: the influence of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the perceived need for more accountability, and the drive towards self-managing schools. In debating the purpose of school self-evaluation in Ireland it is put forward that it is not underpinned by any single logic, but an assemblage of overlapping logics interwoven by complements and contradictions. It is concluded that while improvement is predominantly promoted in official discourse, it is accountability and economic logics that dominate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Well-functioning purchasing arrangements allocate pooled funds to health providers, and are expected to deliver efficient, effective, quality, equitable and responsive health services and advance progress toward universal health coverage (UHC). This paper explores how improvements in purchasing functions in three Nigerian schemes—the Formal Sector Social Health Insurance Program (FSSHIP), the Saving One Million Lives Program for Results (SOML PforR), and Enugu State's Free Maternal and Child Health Program (FMCHP)—may have contributed to better resource allocation, incentives for performance, greater accountability and improved service delivery. The paper uses a case-study approach, with data analyzed using the Strategic Health Purchasing Progress Tracking Framework. Data were collected through review of program documents and published research articles, and semi-structured interviews of 33 key informant interviews. Findings were triangulated within each case study across the multiple sources of information. Improvements in benefits specification and provider payment contributed to some service delivery improvements in all three schemes: higher satisfaction with the quality of care in FSSHIP; increased use of insecticide-treated nets; greater prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission; expanded pentavalent-3 coverage in SOML PforR; and greater service utilization in FMCHP. Resource allocation to public health facilities was enhanced and lines of accountability were better defined. These scheme-level improvements have not translated to system change, because of the small amount of funding flowing through these schemes and the high level of health financing fragmentation. The institutionalization of strategic purchasing in Nigeria to advance UHC will require raising awareness among decision makers, strengthening purchasing agencies' capacity, and reducing fragmentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The issue of connecting research evidence with practice referred to as evidence-informed practice (EIP) has received considerable critical attention in the field of education. However, assessment literature has failed to fully acknowledge the significance of this issue. This conceptual paper concentrates on the process of informing classroom assessment practices by policy-makers, researchers, and teachers. It draws on the important literature on EIP in education and its scarce literature in assessment to highlight a possible productive relationship between assessment research and practice. The paper aims to propose a set of principles as to address the tension between AfL research and practice by defining the roles of each party in the process based on cultural and contextual issues. Accordingly, a cyclical process of collaborative research conduction is proposed. This process provides policy-makers, researchers and practitioners with important implications for practicing AfL research evidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In England and Wales, Approved Mental Health Professionals (AMHPs) may make applications to detain people in hospital under the Mental Health Act (MHA) 1983 as amended 2007. This paper seeks to establish what the available academic literature has to say about AMHP detention decisions. A structured narrative literature review was conducted with the identification of twenty-five included texts that were thematically analysed interpretively. Risk, accountability, and morality are identified as dominant themes in this review. Risk is prominent, but on closer inspection risk is infused with morality. Morality is the merging of the personal and professional domains, the use of self to understand another. Accountability is situated between morality and risk, inextricably linked on both sides with authors identifying a fear of responsibility for adverse consequences. Sub-themes of emotions, intuition, uncertainty, coercion, and alternatives (to admission to hospital) were also found. Analysis of nearly thirty years of literature regarding ASW/AMHP detention decisions tells us that they are not based solely on technical judgements; morality permeates the decision. The literature is justified in evincing risk in detention decisions, but the prominence of risk overshadows accountability and belies the influence of morality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Devolution in the United Kingdom heralded a significant change in democratic arrangements including associated accountability mechanisms in the form of public accounts committees (PACs) in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. This paper investigates whether devolved arrangements have resulted in enhanced accountability. Based on documentary sources, survey data, and interviews with key stakeholders, this study finds that all three jurisdictions have a high level of public accountability, with Wales being the most effective PAC. While there are significant differences in the information and discussion phases of the committees' work, all three regions have comparable outcomes as a result of their deliberations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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