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The Political Construction of Accountability Keywords

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journal contribution
posted on 2024-09-05, 22:09 authored by Jonathan Fox
Terminology in the accountability field is ambiguous, encompassing both top-down, technocratic control initiatives and bottom‑up efforts to challenge the abuse of power and promote equity. The main proposition is that communicating accountability strategies should rely on conceptual and cross-cultural translation rather than awkward attempts at direct linguistic translation. To illustrate how accountability keywords are both politically constructed and contested, this article briefly reflects on the origins, circulation, and transformation of six relevant terms: transparency, the right to know, whistle-blower, advocacy, openwashing, and social accountability – including reflections from accountability advocates from Pakistan, Guatemala, and the Philippines. The conclusion calls for a two-track approach to communicate public accountability strategies, which involves (1) searching within popular cultures to find existing terms or phrases that can be repurposed, and (2) inventing new discourses that communicate ideas about public accountability that resonate with culturally grounded common-sense understandings.

Funding

Open Society Foundations, Vozes Desiguais/Unequal Voices, Future Health Systems consortium, the Impact Initiative and Health Systems Global

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Publisher

Institute of Development Studies

Citation

Fox, J. (2018) 'The Political Construction of Accountability Keywords', in Nelson, E., Bloom, G and Shankland, A. (Eds) Accountability for Health Equity: Galvanising a Movement for Universal Health Coverage, IDS Bulletin 49.2, Brighton: IDS

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IDS Bulletin 49.2

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  • VoR (Version of Record)

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Article

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Institute of Development Studies

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en

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Health and Nutrition

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Default project::9ce4e4dc-26e9-4d78-96e9-15e4dcac0642::600

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    Volume 49. Issue 2: Accountability for Health Equity: Galvanising a Movement for Universal Health Coverage

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