Melvin J. Dubnick, PhD, Political Science

Master of Advanced Cynicism and General Despair

• CONTACT INFORMATION
• DRIBS AND DRAFTS: A BLOG
• PUBLICATIONS
  • 2021: A Tribute to H. George Frederickson
  • 2020: Dissecting the Semantics of Accountability and Its Misuse
  • 2018: Demons, Spirits, and Elephants: Reflections on the Failure of Public Administration Theory
  • 2018: GDD: American Government: Myths and Realities (12th edition)
  • 2018: The GDD Chapters
  • 2018: The GDD "Policy Connections"
  • 2015: EPAP 3rd edition
  • 2015: American Government: Myths and Realities (11th edition) Copy
  • 2014: Accountability as Cultural Keyword
  • 2014: The Ontological Challenge
  • 2014: Barnard's Regret: Zones of Accountability and the Limits of Authority
  • 2013: Power and the Ethics of Reform
  • 2012: Imagininng and Managing Organizational Evil
  • 2011: Move Over Daniel: We Need Some 'Accountability Space'
  • 2011: The Pursuit of Accountability: Promise, Problems, and Prospects
  • 2011: Public Accountability: Performance Measurement, The Extended State, And The Search For Trust
  • 2011: Accountable Governance: Promises And Problems (AG)
  • 2011: AG: Introduction: The Promises of Accountability Research
  • 2011: AG: Rethinking the Obsession: Accountability and the Financial Crisis
  • 2011: AG: Conclusion: Taking Stock and Moving Forward
  • 2010: Accountable Agents: : Federal Performance Measurement and Third-Party Government
  • 2010: Toward a 'Responsible' Future: Reframing and Reforming the Governance of Financial Markets,
  • 2009: All Mega-Projects are Local? Citizen Participation Lessons from the Big Dig,
  • 2009: ggressive Action: In Search of a Dominant Narrative,
  • 2007: Sarbanes-Oxley And The Search For Accountable Corporate Governance
  • 2007: Sowing and Reaping at the Big Dig: The Legacies of Neomanagerialism
  • 2006/2007: Pathologies of Governance Reform: Promises, Pervasions and Perversions in the Age of Accountability
  • 2006: Taking Tough Choices Seriously: Public Administration and Individual Moral Agency
  • 2006: Accountability and the Evil of Adm Ethics
  • 2006: War Narratives: Framing Our Understanding of the War on Terror,
  • 2005: Accountability and the Promise of Performance: In Search of the Mechanisms
  • 2005: [Case 1] Comments
  • 2005: Accountability Through Thick and Thin: Making Assessments and Making Cases
  • 2004/2005: A Framework for Examining Accountability and Value for Money in the UK’s Private Finance InitiativeA Framework for Examining Accountability and Value for Money in the UK’s Private Finance Initiative
  • 2003/2008: Accountability And Ethics: Reconsidering the Relationships
  • 2003: Nurturing Civic Lives: Developmental Perspectives on Civic Education -- Introduction
  • 2002: Postscripts for a 'State of War': Public Administration and Civil Liberties After September 11
  • 2002: Implications for Federalism
  • 2001: In Defense of the Electoral College
  • 2000: The Case for Administrative Evil
  • 2000: Morals and Movies:  Energizing Ethical Thinking Among Professionals
  • 2000: Challenges of Civic Education
  • 2000: Dialogue: Knowledge & Research
  • 1998: Accountability
  • 1998: Army Corps of Engineers
  • 1998: Customs Service
  • 1998: Forest Service
  • 1998: Clarifying Accountability: An Ethical Theory Framework
  • 1996: Challenges to American Public Administration: Complexity, Bureaucratization, and the Culture of Distrust
  • 1996: Farewell form the Catbird Seat
  • 1995: Oklahoma City (editorial)
  • 1994: Editing the Policy Studies Journal and Public Administration Review
  • 1994: Issues of Accountability in Flexible Personnel Systems
  • 1994: A Coup Against King Bureaucracy
  • 1993: Accountability and the Centrality of Expectations in American Public Administration
  • 1993: State economic development policies and national economic growth,
  • 1991: Public Policy & Economic Institutions
    
  • 1991: American Public Administration
  • 1987: Accountability in Public Sector:Lessons from the Challenger tragedy
  • 1985: Industrial Policy and the States
  • 1983: Thinking About Public Policy
  • 1982: Decentralization of Agriculture
  • 1982: Regulatory Policy Ananlysis: Working in a Quagmire
  • 1981: Government Regulation: Advice and Analysis
  • 1981: Nationalizing State Policies
  • 1981: [Reivew} Promise and Performance
  • 1979: The Why & How of Policy Analysis
  • 1979: Problems in U.S. Standard-Setting: The Implications of the Shift to Control Functions
  • 1978: Three Approaches the Health Care
  • 1978: Comparing Policy Alternatives
  • 1976: Blaming The Planner: An Alternative Explanation Of Development Program Failure
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"The Pursuit of Accountability: Promise, Problems, and Prospects," with Kaifeng Yang, in Donald C. Menzel and Harvey L. White (eds.) The State Of Public Administration, Issues, Challenges, Opportunities (Armonk, NY: (M. E. Sharpe, 2011) Chapter 11; pp. 171-186.


This chapter examines the status of the accountability research and practice. The various accountability promises are discussed and linked to major government reform initiatives. Its problems are then examined and prospects outlined.

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© 2021 Melvin Dubnick

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