External accountability meets accountability assistance: The case of legislative strengthening in Africa

In a globalising world, power is often said to be shifting away from developing world states to institutions of global governance. Given its policy and institutional conditionalities, international development aid has been much criticised in this regard. The tendency towards external accountability prompted development aid partners in the Paris Declaration (OECD 2005) to resolve on establishing greater mutual accountability. The current age is one of international assistance to democratic governance. Accountability assistance is a specific component that merits examination as accountability is central to both democracy and good governance. This chapter inquires into whether governance-oriented accountability assistance for development risks furthering external accountability and lines of domestic accountability that do not optimise democratic accountability in partner countries. The argument is made with specific reference to the growing body of evidence supplied by reports on international support for legislative strengthening in Africa.

Related Subject(s): Democracy and Governance