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Global Governance and Democratic Accountability

• Robert O.
  Keohane

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Some Twenty-First Century Projections

• In spite of the fact that there are more
  globalized political actors than ever, the locus
  of political power will still rest primarily
  within nation-states.
• But with so many political actors, force
  (political, military, economic, religious,
  social, moral) will remain, in some important
  senses, fragmented.
• Large parts of the world will exist in what we
  can call an open global society. Within this
  global society, we will see progress toward a
  cosmopolitan ideal with shared legal, political,
  and economic institutions and governance.
• But this cosmopolitan ideal will not be
  completely realized, and some fundamental values
  of substantial populations will remain
  antithetical to each other.

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Accountability Relationships

• Accountability Relationship A relationship of
  power in which an individual, group, or other
  entity makes demands on an agent to report on
  that agents activities, and the individual
  group, or other entity has the ability to impose
  some kind of costs on the agent.
• An accountability relationship can be
• Institutionalized and/or authorized.
• Implicit, assumed, and/or hoped for.

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Forms of Accountability

1. Democratic within a constitutional system,
   those who wield power are held accountable to a
   broad public.
2. Hierarchical subordinates are held accountable
   to superiors.
3. Pluralistic different entities (such as
   different branches of government) are held
   accountable to each other.

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Justifications for Accountability

1. Authorization the process by which one entity
   authorizes another to act confers rights on the
   authorizer and obligations on the part of the
   agent.
2. Support those who provide support (political,
   financial, etc.) have a claim to hold the
   supported entity accountable.
3. Impact those who are responsible for
   determining other peoples choices should be held
   accountable for their choice-determining actions.

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Accountability Gaps

• Accountability Gap when political, economic,
  and other actors have the ability to avoid being
  held externally accountable for their actions,
  especially in regard to support and impact.
• We can view some of the more worrisome features
  of globalization as accountability gaps.
• Accountability gaps might lead to environmental
  injustices and negative environmental impacts.
• Which global actors create accountability gaps?

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Entities that might create accountability gaps

1. Political intergovernmental organizations such as
   the United Nations and the European Union.
2. Economical intergovernmental organizations such
   as the World Trade Organization, the World Bank,
   and the International Monetary Fund.
3. Transgovernmental and private sector networks
   such as those that link central bankers and
   securities regulators.
4. Multinational corporations.
5. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
6. Covert terrorist networks, drug cartels, and
   crime syndicates.
7. The Roman Catholic Church.
8. Other mass religious movements.
9. Powerful nation-states.

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http//news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6472125.stm