public accountability
Governmental openness mandate
Public accountability is the obligation of officials, institutions, or organizations to answer for their actions and decisions to the people they serve.
It implies transparency—that conduct can be examined—and consequences when standards aren't met: The senator called for greater public accountability in how the funds were spent.
Democratic governance depends on it.
- transparencyState of being see-through
- sunshine lawsLegislation mandating government transparency
- open booksPeople easily understood
- oversightSupervision or inadvertent omission
- disclosureAct of revealing information
civic engagement · integrity · budget allocation · freedom of information · democracy · whistleblowing · speak truth to power · anti-corruption · fiduciary duty · rule of law · checks and balances · participatory democracy · ombudsman · audit · open government · paper trail · follow the money · governance
- governancegovernance, government, democracy, vote, parliament
- civic lifevoting, civic engagement, civic responsibility, civic education, civic leader
- public financebudget deficit, tax revenue, budgets, expenditure, national budget
- information policyFOIA, freedom of information, government transparency, open government, data privacy
- public administrationadministrative law, government agencies, ministries, local government, county government
- governmentgovernment, ministries, legislature, judiciary, executive branch
public accountabilitysecrecy
Practice of hiding information
opacity · concealment · cover-up · lack of transparency · non-disclosure
public accountabilityimpunity
Freedom from consequences
unaccountability · above the law · carte blanche · getting away with it · untouchability
public accountabilityauthoritarianism
Concentrated, unchecked governmental power
autocracy · absolute power · despotism · tyranny · dictatorship