The Participation and Civic Engagement Team works to promote poverty reduction and sustainable development by: Empowering the poor to set their own priorities, control resources and influence the government, market and civil society institutions; and influencing governmental and private institutions to be responsive, inclusive, and accountable. Note No. 75 March 2003 The Role of Civic Engagement and Social Accountability in the Governance Equation There is a fundamental misunderstanding regarding the role of civic engagement in States with the capacity to enforce the rule of development. Oftentimes, engagement is law, set clear rules of engagement for civil perceived as existing in the absence of a robust society and promote sound public policy have state. In addition, it is also often held that the proven to supply an appropriate environment for presence of a strong state reduces the space for civic engagement. and scope of civic engagement. However, the existence of a healthy and active civil society The dynamic relationship between civil society does not preclude the existence of a robust state, and the state sets the basic conditions of and vice versa. governance. This relationship, which is in essence contradictory, can become symbiotic and In cases where states are weak, or have failed, crucial to achieving good governance and and are experiencing conditions of widespread sustained development. conflict and social ungovernability, civil society organizations usually offer the institutional basis This concept note outlines the fundamental for public service delivery and, in many cases, tensions behind the governance equation, they contribute to conflict resolution and examines the strategic approaches that reconciliation efforts. Conversely, there is governments and civil society take toward each substantial evidence than an effective and sound other, describes how civic engagement public sector depends very much on the existence contributes to improving the legitimacy of public of a dynamic civil society and strong citizen institutions through vertical mechanisms1 of involvement in the public realm. Such accountability, and how social accountability can involvement can manifest itself in participatory play a positive role in the governance equation. engagement in policy formulation and monitoring that brings transparency and 1 Social accountability, by definition, consists of vertical effectiveness to public institutions. mechanisms of accountability. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ William Reuben is the author of this note, and was assisted in its preparation by Michelle Levy-Benítez. He is Co-Cordinator of the Participation and Civic Engagement Team. The views expressed in this note are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policies of the World Bank. Governance: Striking a balance between The tension between representation and decisiveness and accountability expectation can in turn be translated into the tension between decisiveness in fulfilling Any governance crisis expresses a fundamental expectations, and accountability in holding public contradiction between the citizenship and the power under the control of those represented by state. The fact that the power exercised by the the state. The point of encroachment of these two state through law, coercion and the contradictory elements defines the type of regime administration of public resources is the result of and therefore the political approach likely to be the delegation, or take over, of citizens' taken toward addressing the governance sovereignty permeates the entire range of dilemma. Tyrannies may tilt the balance in one tensions that characterizes this relationship. direction, deadlock regimes in another. Other regimes will use a more balanced mixture of the Although this contradiction has existed since the two elements to work out the governance emergence of the state, it takes on different equation (See Figure 1). shapes and varies several degrees according to the characteristics of political regimes and the Strategic Interaction: How governments and level of disjuncture between ruling institutions civil society react to each other and citizens. The smaller the extent to which citizens feel represented and serviced by public However, there is no permanent equilibrium to institutions, the bigger the governance crisis. The the governance equation. The changing greater the degree of separation between the conditions of the relationship between the actions of rulers and citizens' expectations and government and civil society constantly shift the control over rulers' actions, the greater the balance in one direction or another. This governance crisis. However, this statement is not relationship is determined by many contextual as simple as it appears, because it embeds two factors, a fundamental example of which is the distinct elements on the same side of the political regime and the type of approach a equation: expectations and representation. The specific government adopts toward organized majority of citizens may feel that their values are interests expressed in civil society. James Manor represented and respected by a given identifies seven possible types of strategies government. Yet, that does not inevitably mean governments may adopt2: that their expectations are fulfilled. Representation responds to the existence and · Laissez-faire approach: A passive functioning of democratic institutions and approach that refrains from strong mechanisms of control over those who exercise engagement with civil society but may power. Fulfillment of expectations is linked to enable the organization of citizens in the capacity of public institutions to manage and independent civil society organizations. deliver public goods. · Combination of conflictive and harmonic relationships: A strategic approach in which government seeks to create factions among civil society by establishing alliances with some groups while confronting others. · Repression of all manifestations of citizens' organized interest: An approach usually adopted by autocratic governments. 2Manor, James. Civil Society and Governance: A Concept paper. IDS. 26 August 1999. http://www.ids.ac.uk/ids/civsoc/public.doc · Cooptation approach: Governments seek · Selective collaboration: A strategy that to co-opt some or all interests in an combines collaboration on specific fronts attempt to control civil society through and a critical distance, or even relationships of dependency. confrontation, on others. This strategy · Patronage approach: Similar to the usually leads to complex tensions within cooptation approach. However, this civil society and between CSOs and the approach usually divides citizens' government, though it also opens up interests along clientelistic lines. dynamic spaces for negotiation and · Proactive engagement: Governments constructive engagement. seek to mobilize all or the majority of · Full endorsement: CSOs fully engage organized interests in order to build and endorse government objectives and political consensus. This approach may policies. This situation characterizes the create a climate of strong citizen political and social climate in the engagement in public debate and action, aftermath of deep political and social however it can surpass the boundaries of crises and the emergence of national unit independent and critical mobilization. governments. These are usually · Civic mobilization through nationalistic situations of transition that, in time, shift appeals to one of the previously mentioned strategies after a "grace period," or to In most cases, governments will employ a conditions of enduring clientelist deals mixture of these approaches, creating or limiting and patronage. in different ways and degrees their interaction with organized expressions of the citizenry. Given the heterogeneous character of civil However, civil society organizations also society, these strategies coexist and create all implement their own strategies in defining their sorts of tensions among CSOs and between CSOs relationship with the state and other development and the government. The complex mix of actors like political parties, business government approaches to civil society and civic organizations and international institutions. Four engagement strategies frames the specific main civic engagement strategies can be formula of the governance equation. identified: Nevertheless, existing legal, institutional, and policy frameworks also play an integral role in · Confrontation strategy: Civil society determining the environment for constructive organizations view government as the forms of civic engagement and governance main obstacle for achieving their solutions. objectives. This confrontation strategy usually gives way to social and political Governance and Accountability: Horizontal & unrest and therefore to the narrowing of vertical mechanisms civic freedoms. · Parallel track strategy: Civil society To what extent can decisiveness and organizations decide not to engage with accountability, the two elements in permanent the government and instead establish a tension that comprise the governance equation, set of parallel services that they be reconciled to enhance policy effectiveness and themselves delivery directly to their sustainability? In other words, is it possible for clients and constituencies. In these cases public institutions to increase decisiveness and there is limited or inexistent engagement therefore achieve efficiency in delivering and between CSOs and public institutions, managing public goods and services in order to and a competition for external resources meet the expectations of the population, while and local influence usually characterizes expanding accountability and therefore achieving the relationship between governments (or higher levels of legitimacy and credibility? Any their bureaucratic bodies) and CSOs. answer to this question would have to consider the following aspects: The decision-making processes and mechanisms in place, and the and their execution more truthfully reflect actual systems by which the government is held policy decisions and their implementation. accountable. How Social Accountability Contributes to the Delegation of representation prevails in Governance Equation accountability systems relying on purely horizontal controls.3 National comptroller As evidenced, the existence of mechanisms of bureaus, ombudsman offices and procurement social accountability can lead to significant units are appointed either by the legislative or changes in both the decisiveness and executive branches of the state. Their legitimacy accountability of governments. In terms of depends on the credibility of public institutions at decisiveness, or fulfilling expectations, vertical large. mechanisms enable civil society and government to work towards: In countries characterized by a climate of distrust · Improving public expenditure targeting in public institutions, these horizontal control of social programs through improved mechanisms generally enjoy limited or nil public knowledge of citizen needs. confidence. In democratic regimes where · Enhancing the quality of services effective and credible processes of delegation of delivered through the issuing of citizens' authority prevail, the same mechanisms of report cards. control may enjoy higher levels of public · Improving the allocation of budget confidence and therefore may contribute to resources through the incorporation of improve citizen trust in public institutions. In citizen feedback on budget proposals. fact, in effective democracies, these mechanisms · Enhancing public expenditure incorporate a combination of downstream and effectiveness trough participatory upstream accountability through downwards tracking and monitoring systems. transparent reporting and upwards legitimate delegation of authority. In both situations, strict These mechanisms also lead to a better horizontal controls work against efficient and management of expectations. They provide civil timely government policy implementation, society with a more realistic understanding of delivery of public goods, and result in increased budgetary constraints and the difficult choices transaction costs. inherent in deciding where best to allocate scarce resources and how best to meet the needs of a However, a new set of mechanisms of diverse population. accountability have begun to seep into the mainstream, characterized by their vertical nature In conclusion, social accountability can play an and by the exercise of direct participation of civil important role in the creation of more transparent society organizations and citizens-at-large. The and representative governments and aid public Social Development Department of the World institutions in meeting the expectations of the Bank has identified various types of social population. It allows civil society and accountability mechanisms that can be applied at government to interact in a manner that different stages of the policy sequence.4 These acknowledges the limitations each sector faces mechanisms operate along the budget and public while recognizing that collaboration is necessary expenditure cycle, understanding that budgets for effective and sustainable development. 3For a discussion on the concepts of horizontal and vertical accountability see: O'Donnell, Guillermo. Op. Cit. 4 Swarnim Wagle and Parmesh Shah. Participation in Public Expenditure Systems. Participation and Civic Engagement Group. Social Development Department. The World Bank. January 2002. http://www.worldbank.org/participation/webfiles/pem.pdf "Social Development Notes" are published informally by the Social Development Family in the Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development Network of the World Bank. 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