Standing, Domains, and Accountability

This chapter analyses the key notion of the standing possessed by the accountor. Practical authority is described as a special type of standing. A person with standing can reasonably expect and request certain behaviors from an accountee, including giving an account, but the person with authority can order or demand certain actions. The chapter argues that it is a mistake to think that accountability only has relevance for cases of wrongdoing. Rather, the cooperative work of accountors and accountees often enhances the value of good outcomes. The standing possessed by human accountors is always limited to a particular domain and even within that domain is limited. The chapter then describes in detail nine key features of the person who has the virtue of accountability as well as some conditions which facilitate the manifestation of the virtue. These include both an embrace of the reasonable expectations of the person with standing and a willingness to protest or resist expectations or demands that are unreasonable, because they either are not within the proper domain or exceed appropriate limits within a domain. The possibility of this resistance shows the virtue is not identical with servility and is consistent with a reasonable kind of autonomy. The virtue of accountability is linked to common projects with good goals.