Handbook of Public Administration, 3rd Edition

Part 2

Building Infrastructures for Accountability

Part 2 focuses on the dual concerns of democratic control and administrative effectiveness. Accountability and responsiveness are influenced by administrative arrangements just as they are by the quality of the people who serve. The chapter authors show how laws and institutions shape administrative behavior and thereby promote major governance goals. They ably emphasize several key facets of accountability: responsibility, transparency, and responsiveness.

Laws, governmental institutions, and work organizations are vital parts of the context for administrative action. In one sense, public administrators are creatures of their environments: they function within legal, political, and organizational ...