The Concept of Accountability in World Politics and the Use of Force

This paper proceeds as follows. In Part I, the author discuss a pluralistic theory of accountability. He begins by defining accountability in a standard fashion, emphasizing two conditions: the availability of information to accountability-holders, and their ability to sanction power-wielders. The author then proceeds to discuss a pluralistic conception of accountability systems. Part II then develops a typology of eight accountability mechanisms, all of which are found in democratic societies, but not all of which are democratic per se. Part III builds on the Jacobson-Ku discussion of the current practices, relative to accountability, of the Security Council and asks how they could, from the perspective of accountability, be improved.