The Institutionalisation of Non-responsibility - Efficiency or Conformity? Organisational Reform of Public Services Based on Accountability Theory

TL;DRAbstract

The article examines several aspects of the organisational reform of public services in EU-10 countries based on accountability theory. First, it briefly summarises what reforms have been introduced and describes their internal contradictions. The author argues that these internal tensions stem not just from the introduction of 'new public management' ideas into a completely different context, but also from the fact that the conceptual bases of one of the key objectives of these reforms - greater accountability - are internally contradictory. To understand these inconsistencies, the author analyses the various meanings of 'accountability' and shows how the term differs from 'responsibility'. He then examines the understanding of accountability as a type of social relation. The author also distinguishes the different forms that accountability can assume and defines the incompatible objectives and expectations that tie them together. In the second part of the article the author analyses

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