HESAP VEREBİLİRLİĞİ SORGULAMAK: KAMUSAL HESAP VEREBİLİRLİĞİN ELEŞTİREL BİR DEĞERLENDİRMESİ

Eleştirel retorik bir kavram olarak hesap verebilirlik, geleneksel yönetim anlayışı ile yeni kamu yönetimi arasındaki köklü farklılıkları betimlemede başlı başına bir gösterge niteliği taşır. Modern yönetimlerden beklenen ölçek ve işlevlerin zamanla genişlemesiyle birlikte, yönetimlerin sorumlu tutulmalarına yönelik taleplerin de giderek daha karmaşık hale geldiğini gözlemlemekteyiz. Bugün, hem demokratik yönetimin idealist beklentilerini ortaya koymak hem de bu yönetimin teknik gerekliliklerini açığa vurmak bakımından hesap verebilirlik kavramından daha çok ilgi uyandıran bir kavrama rastlamak neredeyse mümkün değildir. Bu çalışma, kavramın kırılgan ve parçalı içeriklerinin ortaya konulması ve de bürokrasi ile demokrasi arasındaki tartışmalı ilişkinin sorgulanması aracılığıyla geç modern hesap verebilirlik kavrayışının eleştirel bir değerlendirmesini yapmayı amaçlamaktadır. Hesap verebilirlik kavramı, demokratik kamu yönetiminin kritik bir unsuru olarak kavranmakla birlikte, söz konusu kavram ile demokrasi arasında kaçınılmaz bir ilişkinin var olup olmadığı sorusu oldukça önemli bir sorudur. Gerçekte, hesap verebilirliğin ideal bir uygulamasının en iyi şekilde merkezi bir kontrol yapısıyla mı yoksa dağınık bir iktidar ve devredilmiş bir yetki yapısıyla mı gerçekleştirileceği konusunda kesin bir fikre sahip değiliz. Hesap verebilirlik, birbirlerinin aleyhine olmak üzere demokrasi ve bürokrasinin her ikisine de hizmet etme potansiyeline sahiptir. Bu nedenledir ki, her iki kavram arasında hassas bir denge gözetmek adına, Aydınlanmanın başlangıcından günümüze tevarüs edildiği haliyle Akıl ve Özgürlük ilkeleri arasındaki kırılgan uyumu daima göz önünde bulundurmalıyız.

Anahtar Kelimeler:

Hesap Verebilirlik, Bürokrasi, Demokrasi, Yeni Kamu Yönetimi, Katılımcı Demokrasi.

ACCOUNTABILITY IN QUESTION: A CRITICAL REVIEW OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTABILITY

As a critical rhetoric term, accountability poses a per se signifier to describe the radical differences between traditional understanding of government and new public management. We observe that as the size and functions demanded from modern governments have expanded through time, the demands for the accountability of the governments have become increasingly more sophisticated. Today, one can hardly come across any term more stimulating than accountability revealing both the idealistic expectations and techninal requirements of democratic governance. This study intends to evaluate and criticize this late modern conception of accountability through depicting the fragile and fragmented contents of the term and questioning the controversial relationships between bureaucracy and democracy as well. Although accountability is fully considered as a critical element of democratic public administration, it is a crucial question to ask whether there exists an inevitable relation between accountability and democracy. In fact, we are not sure whether an ideal praxis of accountability is best achieved through a centralised concentration of control or through dispersed power and delegated responsibilities. Accountability has the potential to serve for both democracy and bureaucracy at the expense of each other. Therefore, in order to maintain a delicate balance between the two, we should always consider the fragile compatibility between the principles of Reason and Freedom as inherited from the onset of Enlightenment.

Keywords:

Accountability, Bureaucracy, Democracy, New Public Management, Participatory Democracy,

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