TY - JOUR
T1 - Accountability and secrecy in the Australian Intelligence Community: the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security
AU - Bolto, Richard
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security is a significant, evolving
and little-known accountability mechanism. As the basis of a case study, publicly available
committee documents offer valuable insights into accountability practices within an
unusual area of government. These documents highlight a range of accountability
exchanges and broader relationships, as well as some of their defining features.
Exploring critical institutional factors requires conceptual clarity about accountability
and what makes it effective or ineffective. An accountability forum can thus be examined
as a social mechanism through which the key stages of accountability unfold, at least in
theory. Secrecy is a potentially significant intervening variable in this case, but by applying
democratic and constitutional perspectives on accountability, some more general
strengths and weaknesses are evident.
AB - The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security is a significant, evolving
and little-known accountability mechanism. As the basis of a case study, publicly available
committee documents offer valuable insights into accountability practices within an
unusual area of government. These documents highlight a range of accountability
exchanges and broader relationships, as well as some of their defining features.
Exploring critical institutional factors requires conceptual clarity about accountability
and what makes it effective or ineffective. An accountability forum can thus be examined
as a social mechanism through which the key stages of accountability unfold, at least in
theory. Secrecy is a potentially significant intervening variable in this case, but by applying
democratic and constitutional perspectives on accountability, some more general
strengths and weaknesses are evident.
U2 - 10.1177/0020852316687646
DO - 10.1177/0020852316687646
M3 - Article
SN - 0020-8523
VL - 85
SP - 137
EP - 153
JO - International Review of Administrative Sciences
JF - International Review of Administrative Sciences
IS - 1
ER -