Talk:Accountability

Needs more substance

The entry to this point (September 3 2008) reflects more rhetoric than substance. It needs to be developed to deal with various meanings beyond the narrow focus on US and political arena. I will attempt to built this up overtime. Assistance, feedback, input appreciated....—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Mdubnick (talk • contribs).

I've eliminated the term "enforcement" as a synonym. While enforcement implies holding someone to account, it seems one step removed. One can say to be accountable is to be answerable, liable, responsible, etc, but "to be enforced" does not seem to fit.Mjdubnick (talk) 14:51, 3 November 2009 (UTC)

Moving unsourced comment

Moving this here till there's a citation:

Accountability implies a concern for the welfare of those with whom one works. Accountability denotes an ambition to leverage one's position in the economy to the benefit of society as a whole. Accountability at the most fundamental level signifies an obligation to one's self- an obligation to lead a meaningful life-both in and out of the workplace consistent with one's own values. - Yale, School of Management

Couldn't find the source for this online. Jokestress 17:20, 19 April 2006 (UTC)

It's here, although with a few wording changes: http://mba.yale.edu/account.asp -- Sharpner 14:13, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

Changes added

i added the definition and types of accountability

see if there's any problem

please leave a comment here if any source missing

plus, this is the first time i try to edit an entry in wiki, forgive if any inconvenient caused -- The goliath 05:25, 23 May 2007 (UTC)

External links

In the most recent revision (prior to my own) Kuru removed the following link:

• [xhttp://www.accountability-central.com Accountability Central - Daily Updated News, Commentary, Research, Books, Magazines, and other resources specific to Accountability]

(This looks like one of a dozen or so related reversions, the rationale for which is given here.)

I don't disagree with this decision; nor do I claim to be a Wikipedia expert. But I'm curious why this was the only link removed when the other four are actually significantly less deep and substantive sites. After a quick read of WP:EL my conclusion is that the other four links need to be removed as well. While I won't restore the one Kuru removed, it looks to me like it's the only one that might plausibly survive WP:EL analysis. I leave this for others to determine.

For the record, the links I removed are reproduced below. Compare these sites to the one above:

• [xhttp://www.resultsaccountability.com The Fiscal Policy Studies Institute]
• [xhttp://www.raguide.org The Results Accountability]
• [xhttp://www.accty.com Accountability Tax Service]
• [xhttp://www.policyinnovations.org/ideas/innovations/data/AccountAbility The AccountAbility Story in Policy Innovations]

My edit leaves a blank "External Links" section (other than Wiktionary). I don't know if the section itself should be removed.

(Disclosure: I have no affiliation whatsoever with any of the organizations involved in these links. I am merely an interested observer of the rise of the "accountability" phenomenon, which the site in the topmost link above does the best job of documenting, at least among these five.) --Sharpner 00:51, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Moving unsourced & misplaced comment

(Originally labeled "Social implications", the following seems to be about political accountability and does not seem to fit idea of "social implications" (which is a topic addressed by sociological and social psychological research). If it is reenter, it should also be referenced.) Mjdubnick (talk) 18:43, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

Accountability constrains the extent to which elected representatives and other office-holders can willfully deviate from their theoretical responsibilities, thus reducing corruption. The relationship of the concept of accountability to related concepts like the rule of law or democracy, however, still awaits further elucidation.

In a BBC documentary, the Misrepresentation of the People Act was proposed to make members of parliament in the UK more accountable. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mjdubnick (talk • contribs) 18:42, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

Removed unsourced and questionable/dated material from History

(The following removed from "History" section: 1. Section modified with sources related to ancient use of account-giving, but word itself first appears in English in early 13th century -- see source. 2. No source for material below on Hammurabi Code, although source is added that refers to it directly. No support for "perhaps first written statement" -- and in fact the word accountability was not used before 13th century Norman England. 3. Too limited in view of accountability as related to money lending. Financial bookkeeping in formal sense is ancient, although accounting is modern invention. Also downplays use in ancient regimes. 4. Use of 1848 Bartlett is dated -- OED dates usage back to 1200s, and first use in US to colonial times....)Mjdubnick (talk) 20:26, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

One would borrow money from a money lender, be that a local Temple or Merchant, and would then be held responsible to their account with that party. Responsibility is also a close synonym.

Perhaps the first written statement of accountability is in the Code of Hammurabi, where Hammurabi describes certain undesirable actions and their consequences. One example:

"If a man uses violence on another man's wife to sleep with her, the man shall be killed, but the wife shall be blameless."

Other early examples can be found in the Bible.

The word "accountability" itself was listed in John Russell Bartlett's 1848 work Dictionary of Americanisms: A Glossary of Words and Phrases, Usually Regarded as Peculiar to the United States. Bartlett notes that "This word, so much used by our divines, is not to be found in any English Dictionary except the recent one of Mr. Knowles." Being held responsible for one's own actions.

Extract from a prospectus?

The section "Accountability in education" raises some interesting points, but is done in a way that resembles an advertisement for Sudbury Schools.

Anyone responsible for adding this section want to make it a bit more generic? By all means quote SS as an example, but what's there at the moment doesn't look like what I'd expect in an encyclopaedia covering this heading and covers no other aspects of this theme than the differences between SS and other schools. InelegantSolution (talk) 13:11, 19 November 2010 (UTC)

I've had a crack at at it. Further attention from someone with more experience of both the Sudbury Schools and the "traditional" approach would probably be useful. InelegantSolution (talk) 15:47, 11 October 2011 (UTC)