The Nexus Between Agencification and Horizontal Accountability: A Multi-Country Survey Analysis

Abstract

Accountability to political principals, stakeholders and citizens is a major issue in the literature on structurally disaggregated autonomous agencies. There are numerous accounts in the literature which claim that the need for independence of agencies reduces the ability of political principals to hold it and its leadership accountable for actions. However, next to traditional vertical accountability instruments (e.g., monitoring and evaluation of the organization or senior management), ‘alternatives’ such as horizontal ways of holding agencies accountable exist. Using multi-country survey data, this article explores how managerial autonomy affects the existence and use of such accountability mechanisms.

Keywords

• agencies, horizontal accountability mechanisms, managerial autonomy.