Autonomy in Public Service Provision and the Challenge of Accountability: Insights from German Policy Fields
Open access
Date
2014-08Type
- Working Paper
ETH Bibliography
yes
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Abstract
The creation of “autonomous operative” organizations – either by privatization or devolution – is a dominant trend of recent public governance reforms. While privatization and devolution affect traditional accountability arrangements based on democratic procedures quite considerably, this is not because the intensity of regulatory mechanisms is decreasing. New market-based accountability mechanisms such as competition, price, and performance are often layered upon existing regulatory regimes, such as organizational boards with elected representatives of the public. The paper contributes to the understanding of the relationship between conflicting principles of procedural and performance accountability by exploring the accountability regimes of autonomous operative organizations: What activities and strategies are applied by differing actors to manage the interface between the organization and their political and social stakeholders? To what extent can differing accountability mechanisms ensure that common good goals are achieved? These questions are addressed by conducting a comparative case study analysis of such salient policy fields as water supply and public housing in two federal states of Germany. Show more
Permanent link
https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-a-010341306Publication status
publishedJournal / series
Jerusalem Papers in Regulation & GovernanceVolume
Publisher
The Hebrew UniversitySubject
DEUTSCHLAND (MITTELEUROPA). BUNDESREPUBLIK DEUTSCHLAND; PUBLIC HOUSING; ÖFFENTLICHES WOHNUNGSWESEN; DENATIONALIZATION + PRIVATIZATION (ECONOMIC POLICY); REPRIVATISIERUNG + PRIVATISIERUNG (WIRTSCHAFTSPOLITIK); PENAL RESPONSIBILITY + ACCOUNTABILITY (CRIMINAL LAW); ZURECHNUNGSFÄHIGKEIT + VERANTWORTLICHKEIT (STRAFRECHT); WATER SUPPLY (BUILDING SERVICES); GERMANY (CENTRAL EUROPE). FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY; WASSERVERSORGUNG (GEBÄUDETECHNIK)Organisational unit
08693 - Gruppe Natural Resource Policy / Natural Resource Policy
02350 - Dep. Umweltsystemwissenschaften / Dep. of Environmental Systems Science
09451 - Patt, Anthony G. / Patt, Anthony G.
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ETH Bibliography
yes
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