Accountability and Democracy
The Pitfalls and Promise of Popular Control

Accountability and Democracy provides a critical study of the concept of "democratic accountability" as it figures in democratic theory and in debates over globalization.

Provocatively, the book also challenges deep-seated understandings of democratic accountability as an expression of popular sovereignty. Borowiak instead argues that accountable governance is incompatible with all claims to ultimate authority, regardless of whether they refer to the demos, the state, or cosmopolitan public law. Rather than conceiving of democratic accountability as a way to legitimize a secure and sovereign political order, the book contends that destabilization and democratic insurgence are indispensable and often neglected facets of democratic accountability practices. For contemporary scholars, practitioners and activists grappling with the challenge of building democratic legitimacy into world politics, the book urges greater reflexivity and nuance in how democratic accountability is evoked and implemented. It offers insights into the myriad ways democratic accountability has been thwarted in the past, while also cultivating a sense of expanded possibility for how it might be conceived for the present.

PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
INTRODUCTION
PART ONE:
PUNISHABILITY, REPRESENTATION, CONTROL
1 MANAGING REPUBLICANISM: ACCOUNTABILITY DEFICITS AND THE U.S. RATIFICATION DEBATES
2 DISCIPLINING DEMOCRACY:
THE PRINCIPAL - AGENT MODEL OF ACCOUNTABILITY
PART TWO:
ANSWERABILITY, COMMUNITY, PARTICIPATION
3 CONSTITUTING THE POLIS: PARTICIPATORY ACCOUNTABILITY IN ANCIENT ATHENS
4 ANSWERING FOR EXCLUSION: DELIBERATIVE DEMOCRACY AND THE DEMANDS OF JUSTICE
PART THREE: GLOBALIZATION, MARKETS, DISRUPTION
5 DISPLACING DEMOCRACY:
MARKET ACCOUNTABILITY AND THE CONSUMER-CITIZEN
6 DISORIENTING COSMOPOLITANISM: ACCOUNTABILITY AND THE POLITICS OF INSURGENCE
CONCLUSION: DEMOCRATIC ACCOUNTABILITY AS PREDICAMENT AND PROMISE
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX