Vertical accountability
Topic: Transparency, Accountability and e-Governance · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Vertical accountability means rulers answer to the citizens below them. The main tool is elections, where voters can remove a government that performs badly. The media and civil society add to this. Class 9 calls the media the "fourth pillar" of democracy. Misinformation can weaken this kind of accountability because it confuses what voters know.
Example
In a general election, voters judge the government on its record and can vote it out. Between elections, newspaper investigations and campaigns by citizen groups keep up the pressure on the government.
Don't confuse with
- Horizontal accountability: here other state bodies check the executive, such as Parliament, the courts, the CAG and the CIC.
- Social accountability: here citizens demand answers directly through tools such as social audit and jan sunwai, not only through elections.
Related concepts
- Good governance
- Good Governance Day
- Minimum government, maximum governance
- Transparency
- Horizontal accountability