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Rude Accountability: Informal Pressures on Frontline Bureaucrats in Bangladesh
Author(s) -
Hossain Naomi
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
development and change
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.267
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1467-7660
pISSN - 0012-155X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-7660.2010.01663.x
Subject(s) - accountability , corporate governance , social accounting , state (computer science) , public administration , service (business) , power (physics) , work (physics) , public service , business , public relations , political science , accounting , law , finance , marketing , mechanical engineering , accounting information system , physics , algorithm , quantum mechanics , computer science , engineering
ABSTRACT This article is about ‘rude’ forms of accountability — the informal pressures used by citizens to claim public services and to sanction service failures. Rude accountability is characterized by a lack of official rules or formal basis and a reliance on the power of social norms and rules to influence and sanction official performance. The article draws on evidence from Bangladesh, a state which has not reformed its social sector governance, to explore when and why poor citizens resort to ‘rude’ accountability, whether they have a comparative advantage in the use of informal mechanisms, and whether these work, in terms of gaining better service. It asks what informal accountability mechanisms imply for governance reform in social services, and discusses lessons for other ‘unreformed’ states like Bangladesh.