6 - For What Should They Be Accountable?

Summary

This chapter explores the complex question of for what an agent should be held accountable for the purpose of defining the ideal accountability benchmark. Given the breadth of this question, this chapter focuses on two of the 'building blocks' that might be relevant in defining the standards of conduct against which government performance might be measured: fault and outcomes. Even at this level of abstraction, the task of establishing an accountability benchmark is a difficult one, with each accountability rationale suggesting a different approach. For instance, if our goal is punishment we might think it appropriate to limit accountability to cases of intentional wrongdoing. On the other hand, if our goal is redress we might be more concerned with the outcomes of an official's actions rather than their intentions. In order to define a benchmark, it would be necessary to engage with difficult philosophical questions about when it is appropriate to hold another person accountable for their actions, and the inherent complexity of this task might be one explanation for the lack of detailed consideration of these ideas in the existing literature.