Abstract
This chapter outlines the major conceptual, methodological, and theoretical features of existing literature on accountability and its political effects. In the process, the innovative framework adopted in this book is explained, as are the central research questions and propositions. Especially innovative is the delineation of a hitherto unrecognized discrete category of accountability ideologies – moral ideologies – that combine and compete with liberal and democratic ideologies to shape governance reform agendas. We explain that the relative strength of different ideologies reflects historical legacies and contemporary political economy relationships. Ideological categories differ over where political authority ought to rest in the accountability relationship and therefore have differential appeal to groups of varying interests. The issue is not whether accountability is diluted or not but whose authority is championed through accountability reforms. Thus, morally conservative approaches to accountability, often in alliance with liberal approaches, are able to challenge or co-opt incipient democratic accountability movements.