The Legitimacy and Public Accountability of Global Litigation: The Particular Case of Transnational Arbitration

This chapter examines the idea that our priority ought to be to reform the international trade in resources so as to deliver on popular resource sovereignty, and to deliver upon an ideal of ‘public accountability’ in resource sales. It suggests that ‘accountability’ reforms have some promise, but cannot be considered a replacement for more ambitious egalitarian reforms. Indeed, it shows that we have reason to be cautious about those reforms, in light of their likely effects. It also shows that public accountability and popular sovereignty are not unambiguously enshrined in international law. This reduces the supposed pragmatic advantage of accountability reforms, and their purported superiority over more ambitious egalitarian reforms.

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The promotional culture of social media and search platforms: an original article by Tom O’Regan and a commentary by Nicholas Carah

Media International Australia ◽

10.1177/1329878x211010784 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 180 (1) ◽

pp. 64-82

Author(s):

Tom O’Regan ◽

Nicholas Carah

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Public Accountability ◽

Unique Form ◽

Advertising Expenditure ◽

Digital Platforms

As the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) Digital Platforms Inquiry was at pains to point out, social media and search platforms now capture unprecedented shares of Australian media advertising expenditure. However, this loose collection of media forms and the advertising that supports them are some distance from traditional forms of media and advertising. While much has been written about these differences, the nexus between social media and search media forms and their advertising and promotional settlements had received comparatively little attention until the ACCC made it the front and centre of its inquiry. Our concern here is to take up the invitation the ACCC offers: to reorient our scholarly and public discussions of platforms towards the promotional culture of social media and search platforms. We consider the implications for advertiser-supported media, the unique form of advertising they have created and their challenge to public accountability.

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Enacting Accountability Under Populist Pressures: Theorizing the Relationship Between Anti-Elite Rhetoric and Public Accountability

Administration & Society ◽

10.1177/00953997211019387 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 009539972110193

Author(s):

Matthew Wood ◽

Felicity Matthews ◽

Sjors Overman ◽

Thomas Schillemans

Keyword(s):

Public Accountability ◽

Blame Attribution ◽

Three Stages ◽

Bureaucratic State ◽

And Behavior ◽

The Impact ◽

Accountability Practices ◽

The Relationship

While populism challenges the pluralism and technocratic expertise on which public bureaucracies are based, extant scholarship has overlooked its effects on accountability processes. In particular, it neglects the impact of anti-elite rhetoric, characterized by what can be regarded as “emotionalized blame attribution,” on the thinking and behavior of accountability actors. Responding to this gap, this article examines the impact of this distinctive form of populist rhetoric on accountability relationships within the bureaucratic state. It identifies three “stages” whereby these populist pressures challenge accountability relationships, threaten the reputation of accountability actors, and result in alternative accountability practices. In doing so, the article provides a roadmap for assessing the impact of anti-elite rhetoric on accountability actions.

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