Of course, accountability, which indicates the state of the acceptance of responsibility for one’s own actions, is very important for every country around the world. Indeed, the accountability of government, private and other organizations can help develop any country in economic, political and other terms as desired. Consequently, people get the deserving economic and other opportunities. But when there is a lack of accountability, corruption takes place at different tiers of the government and other organizations. Under such a context, political and other elites can do whatever they like establishing a society of might is right. Consequently, public institutions and other institutions fail to function as desired and many are deprived of their deserving opportunities.
Of course, a lack of accountability or unaccountability, the absence of accountability or freedom from accountability, exists in different government offices across countries around the world. Inadequate accountability, an important component of good governance, exists in other organizations such as private organizations and non-government organizations. No doubt, it is difficult to precisely say the extent of unaccountability in government, private and non-government organizations, as there is a lack of information on the accountability of such organizations across countries. But, among countries, less developed and/or developing countries struggle more with a lack of accountability in government and other organizations compared to developed countries. Also, authoritarian regime, both de jure and de facto, has more unaccountable institutions on many occasions.
No doubt, there are many factors that are responsible for inadequate accountability in government and other organizations. Inadequate development of institutions, a lack of willingness of political leaders, a lack of resource based and other capacities to oversee government institutions, inadequate power of anti-corruption bodies, a lack of rule of law and irregular or flawed elections are some important reasons for inadequate accountability. Of course, the unwillingness of political leaders especially in less developed or even some developing countries hinders the development of public institutions for securing accountability in government and other organizations. Besides, there are other reasons including an increased number of corrupt political leaders and government officials, a lack of effective monitoring, a lack of morality among government officials and others and an imbalance between the expenditure and income.
Among different organizations, the accountability of government or political accountability, which indicates the accountability of the government, civil servants and politicians to the public and to legislative bodies such as a congress or a parliament, is more important. This is because government organizations make laws and policies, maintain law and order, oversee government and other organizations to see whether there is a lack of transparency or not, secure transparency among government and other organizations and bring those who are unaccountable accountable. When government organizations are unaccountable, it has rippling effects on other organizations, meaning the corruption takes place in government and other organizations putting hindrances to the efficient and effective functioning of organizations and the development of society in economic and other terms.
Thus, some steps are needed to secure accountability across countries. In this respect, government institutions need to be made functional because functional public institutions can help develop accountability in government and other organizations in any country. Moreover, transparency at different tiers of government activities and stronger oversight of the public service need to be ensured. Emphasis should be given to the desired functioning of anti-corruption bodies. Of course, along with political leaders, the accountability of public officials needs to be ensured. But to secure the accountability of the government, the willingness of the political leaders is very important. In this respect, holding regular and fair elections is very important, especially in democratic countries, as this can directly hold the government accountable for their activities at a certain interval.
Along with the government institutions, the roles of other organizations are very important to secure accountability. Of course, mass media can play significant roles in the efforts to secure accountability in different countries. Besides, transnational or global organizations or actors can help improve accountability across countries. No doubt, without the roles of transnational actors such as governmental and non-governmental organizations, it is difficult to ensure accountability in more corrupt countries on many occasions. This is especially the case when the political government is unaccountable.
