This site will offer the basic concepts of accountability and
of holding to account, and proposes principles of accountability
and related standards for public answering by authorities. The
principles and answering standards can be applied to a wide range
of public concerns. (Accountability in personal relationships
is beyond the scope of CCA’s work.)
Concerned citizens and public interest organizations, elected
representatives, members of different types of organizations and
members of governing bodies all need help if they are serious
about public accountability. For example, elected representatives
are often overworked and have information overload, yet, with
no training, they must hold governments and corporations to account
on our behalf as well as account to us themselves. Citizens need
help in holding to account because they don't have the time after
work to audit everything intended or done by those in authority.
The web site is based on the book by Henry E. McCandless, co-published
in 2002 by Trafford Publishing and the Circle: A Citizen’s
Guide to Public Accountability: Changing the Relationship Between
Citizens and Authorities. A summary of each chapter is included
in this site, and the Trafford
Publishing link offers useful information on the book. Website
visitors wishing to purchase a copy may simply click on the link
to place their order.
As the means for CCA's forum role, this web site includes the
Journal of Public Accountability (JPA). The Journal
offers articles by CCA Convenors on accountability issues, concepts,
strategy and practice, and welcomes submissions by others. There
is no "refereeing" process for submitted articles: the
main criterion is that the article be of practical help in holding
to account.
As we identify organizations working on improving public answering
by authorities, we will provide links to their web sites. In a
future up-date CCA will provide a discussion format to facilitate
exchange on major accountability issues.
The CCA aim is to explain accountability and holding to account,
and to suggest how citizens and public interest organizations
can exact adequate public answering from authorities. The Citizen’s
Guide shows the types of harm and injustice that can happen
when we don’t require public answering from authorities.
In the Journal of Public Accountability we can report
results from people applying the accountability approaches suggested
in the Guide and those they develop themselves. Because
authorities cannot evade the answering obligation when put to
them legitimately and effectively, holding to account should be
an adventure, not a daunting task for those who working on improving
fairness in society.
