PhD defence A. (Ahmed) El Assal

Below is a brief summary of the dissertation: 

For the past few decades, strengthening public accountability has been central to scholarly discussions about democratic governance and the delivery of public services. Since the 1990s, social accountability initiatives (SAIs) have been promoted by donors and international organisations as part of the good governance paradigm, with the aim of amplifying citizens’ voices and addressing institutional failures in the Global South. Many of these initiatives have employed various accountability mechanisms based on an understanding of accountability that is rooted in rational choice and principal-agent theory. These mechanisms have focused on closing the information asymmetry gap, improving feedback loops, and addressing failures on the so-called supply and demand sides of accountability. However, a growing body of scholarly work highlights the limitations of these approaches in the Global South. Moreover, with the increasing control of citizens’ voices and actions for greater public accountability, as well as a growing tendency towards political clientelism, populism, and autocratic rule, it becomes crucial to understand how accountability institutions function, or not, as authoritarian incumbents try to either sabotage or entirely dismantle existing forms of accountability systems.