Accountability in Public Administration: From Concepts to Empirical Tests

Handbook of Accountability Research (2026)

Public accountability is a crucial element of democratic governance relating those with power to the democratic audiences for whom they govern. . . In recent years, accountability has become a major topic in public administration research for at least three major reasons.

Advancing Accountability in Unsettled Times

Public Performance & Management Review

A symposium at ASPA’s 2024 conference in Minneapolis, brought together more than 30 scholars from across the globe— resulting in a special issue of PPMR. On the surface, much appears unchanged. Yet, a closer look reveals that the intervening years have brought significant shifts—both in how accountability is studied within the discipline and in the real-world contexts of politics and public administration.

Making Metrics Matter for Local Governments

PATimes (Alex Tremblay)

Great mini-case study of Hennepin County, MN’s efforts to improve performance, noting: “performance improves not through targets and goals but through participation in a continuous quality improvement process at all levels of the organization.”

Resource of the Week: City Health Dashboard

NYU Grossman School of Medicine

The goal is to provide communities and city leaders with an array of regularly updated data specific to neighborhood and/or city boundaries – such as life expectancy, park access, and children in poverty – to improve the health and well-being of everyone in the community.