Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
Accountable to whom? Data transparency, depoliticisation and the myth of the market in English local government. / Eckersley, Peter Mark; Ferry, Laurence.
Local Governments in the Digital Era: Looking for Accountability. New York : Nova Science Publishers, 2017. p. 187-202.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
}
TY - CHAP
T1 - Accountable to whom?
T2 - Data transparency, depoliticisation and the myth of the market in English local government
AU - Eckersley, Peter Mark
AU - Ferry, Laurence
N1 - Self-archiving of author accepted manuscript not supported by the publisher.
PY - 2017
Y1 - 2017
N2 - Data transparency and structural reforms are changing the nature of accountability in public services across the developed world, and English local government is no exception. Various central government initiatives since 2010 have increased the number of mechanisms through which councils can be held accountable, in line with a promise to improve ‘downwards’ accountability to citizens. However, these mechanisms are unlikely to be any more robust than their predecessors in improving this relationship. Instead, the reforms have actually strengthened ‘upwards’ accountability to central government for financial management, and sought (albeit largely unsuccessfully) to make local public bodies more responsive ‘horizontally’ to potential competitors in the public services marketplace. Indeed, since they are likely to result in greater outsourcing and privatisation of public services, the reforms can be seen as part of a wider neoliberal agenda that is contributing to ‘depoliticisation’ and a situation where policy decisions are taken increasingly by non-state or apolitical actors, to the detriment of democracy and public accountability.
AB - Data transparency and structural reforms are changing the nature of accountability in public services across the developed world, and English local government is no exception. Various central government initiatives since 2010 have increased the number of mechanisms through which councils can be held accountable, in line with a promise to improve ‘downwards’ accountability to citizens. However, these mechanisms are unlikely to be any more robust than their predecessors in improving this relationship. Instead, the reforms have actually strengthened ‘upwards’ accountability to central government for financial management, and sought (albeit largely unsuccessfully) to make local public bodies more responsive ‘horizontally’ to potential competitors in the public services marketplace. Indeed, since they are likely to result in greater outsourcing and privatisation of public services, the reforms can be seen as part of a wider neoliberal agenda that is contributing to ‘depoliticisation’ and a situation where policy decisions are taken increasingly by non-state or apolitical actors, to the detriment of democracy and public accountability.
KW - accountability
KW - transparency
KW - New Public Management
KW - local government
KW - depoliticisation
KW - England
UR - https://www.novapublishers.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=59490&osCsid=6904969f605af544bd8db4204025417c
M3 - Chapter
SN - 978-1-63485-891-5
SP - 187
EP - 202
BT - Local Governments in the Digital Era
PB - Nova Science Publishers
CY - New York
ER -