행정책임의 변화

A Study on the Shifts in Public Accountability

It is emphasized that public accountability represents one of the most basic values or principles of democracy, and the cornerstone of good governance. In recent decades, many states are seemingly incapable of solving diverse and intractable social ,economic and environmental problems alone. It is argued that along with the shift in the nature of state formation to market -driven policies, new national and local governance arrangement, based on new idea, different ways of working, and approaches to problems solving have brought into sharper focuses on the issues of democratic legitmacy, scrutiny and accountability. It is argued that there is a reconfiguration of legitmacy and accountability due to new public management(NPM) reforms such as contracting out, privatization, public partnership with nonstate actors and subsequently innovative alternative post-NPM models like new public service(NPS) and new public governance(NPG) that focus on these challenges to accountability with emphasis on greater public participations and responsiveness to citizen rather than clients. In line with this major transition toward businesslike public management, There have also been considerable changes in various dimensions of public accountability. More specifically There are shifts in public accountability from the traditional bureaucratic model to the current neo,-managerial model ,from vertical single hierarchy to horizontal complex structures, from collective to individual performance evaluation and so on. In this new context, the additional dimensions of accountabilities have led to the emergence of multiple accountabilities and increased the level of complexity in accountability structures. specially more ambiguities in identifying which individuals and agencies are accountable and to whom they are to be held accountable. This article attempts to address these contemporary changes and challenges related to accountability by using diverse perspectives and themes.