We introduce a concept of accountability traps. Two conditions characterize an accountability trap: (i) a society is caught in a self-reinforcing pattern of behavior with low accountability and (ii) within the same set of institutions, there is another selfreinforcing pattern of behavior with greater accountability and higher voter welfare. We show that a canonical model of elections is consist...

Social accountability is increasingly invoked as a way of improving health services. This article presents a theory-driven qualitative study of the context, mechanisms and outcomes of a social accountability program, Citizen Voice and Action (CVA), implemented by World Vision (WV) in Zambia. Primary data were collected between November 2013 and January 2014. It included in-depth interviews and ...

BACKGROUND Routine immunization coverage in Nigeria has remained low, and studies have identified a lack of accountability as a barrier to high performance in the immunization system. Accountability lies at the heart of various health systems strengthening efforts recently launched in Nigeria, including those related to immunization. Our aim was to understand the views of health officials on th...

Background There are several studies from different geographical settings and levels on maternal health, but none analyzes how accountability problems may contribute to the maternal health outcomes. This study aimed to analyze how accountability problems in public health system lead to maternal deaths and inequities in India. Methods A conceptual framework was developed bringing together acco...

BACKGROUND In 2006, researchers and decision-makers launched a five-year project - Response to Accountable Priority Setting for Trust in Health Systems (REACT) - to improve planning and priority-setting through implementing the Accountability for Reasonableness framework in Mbarali District, Tanzania. The objective of this paper is to explore the acceptability of Accountability for Reasonablene...

Accountability in Cloud Computing and Distributed Computer Systems Hongda Xiao 2014 Traditionally, research in computer security has focused on preventive techniques such as passwords, authentication protocols, and encryption. With the rise of internet technologies, especially cloud computing and distributed computer systems, preventive measures have proven inadequate, and security researchers ...

This paper aims to achieve data confidentiality scalability and accountability in cloud computing by determining first the security mechanisms required for each data sensitivity level, and which of these security controls may not be supported in certain computing environments, then which solutions can be used to cope with the identified security limitations of cloud computing. Secondly issues s...

We present a multi-modal, model-theoretic framework for achieving accountability in multi-agent systems through formal proof. Our framework provides modalities for knowledge, provability, and time. With these modalities, we formalise the two main aspects of accountability, which are: soundness (accountability proper), i.e., for correct agents, the provability of their correctness by themselves;...