Abstract
This article investigates how politicians in England and Germany approach social accountability during the introduction of markets in the national health care systems. It analyses the discourse among members of parliament during the law making process of the 2012 NHS Health Care Act in England and the 2011 Act for Financing of Statutory Health Insurance in Germany. Generally, the new social accountability reform agenda is attractive to policy makers as it foregrounds public engagement and bottom-up participation (Peters 2001). Social accountability refers to institutional practices that favour participatory and horizontal mechanisms that depart from traditional hierarchical Principal-Agent forms.
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Notes
In Germany, we use the term “Rechenschaft” or “Rechenschaftspflicht” which goes beyond the term “Verantwortung”. “Verantwortung” can be best translated with the term “responsibility”. Verantwortung means to be responsible for a person or an action. In contrast “Rechschaftspflicht” means that you are liable to account towards public or collective interests.
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Mattei, P., Mitra, M. & Feiler, T. The Politics of ‘Social Accountability’ in England and Germany: Democratic Control and Moral Imperatives. Public Organiz Rev 18, 399–411 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11115-016-0343-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11115-016-0343-5