called and held to account
Introduction
Traditional models of accountability, primarily those of elections and legislative scrutiny, are no longer sufficient in holding governments accountable. While Emy and Hughes (1988) argue that accountability dilemmas have been long standing within ministerial government, they see accountability failures as an indication of mechanisms corrupted by political interest. The rise of new social movements is a strong indication of the collective desire of citizens to interrupt the “chain of accountability”. The desire to influence political decision makers is a reflection of a growing assumption that the democratic deficit facing most western governments requires experiments ...