Download This PaperConceptualising Accountability in International and European Law
Netherlands Yearbook of International Law, pp. 3-20, 2006
20 Pages Posted: 12 Jul 2009 Last revised: 16 Nov 2009
Date Written: 2006
Abstract
This article introduces in general terms the concept of accountability and its potential relevance to international and European legal scholarship. It argues that the scale of the shifts in governance and public authority away from the territorial state towards different forms and levels of governance, within and beyond the parameters of the traditional nation state, call for shifts in accountability relationships beyond that applicable within the confines of the territorial state. This, in turn, requires a rethinking of the concept, aims and forms of accountability applying in international and European law. The article explores five aspects of the concept of accountability: the aims of accountability, the actors involved in processes of accountability, the institutions to which accountability must be rendered, the process of accountability, and the levels of accountability. In each regard, the concept of accountability enables us to move beyond traditional concepts of the international legal order such as liability and responsibility and to gain a better understanding of appropriate responses to abuses of power resulting from shifts in authority.
Keywords: international law, european law, accountability, governance
JEL Classification: K33
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation