Accountability: Angst, Awareness, Action

6

Executive Accountability

Bureaucracy is not an obstacle to democracy but an inevitable complement to it.

 

Joseph A. Schumpeter, 1883–1950

This chapter examines the functioning and effectiveness of the key mechanisms enforcing accountability in the Executive. Here is where India's famed bureaucracy resides and operates from. We will find a wide range of accountability mechanisms, all attempting to bolster the quality of governance, but in some cases failing to do so. The matrix in Figure 6.1 lists the key internal, horizontal and external accountability mechanisms in the Executive. We assess these mechanisms to determine their ability to reinforce the four foundations of accountability.

 

 

Figure 6.1 Mechanisms in the Executive

 

Let ...