The Challenge Of Achieving Accountability In Veracruz

The Challenge of Achieving Accountability in Veracruz 1 Daniel Sousa Summary: Introduction I. The main challenge, strengthening institutions II. Accountability, information access, and the quality of democracy III. Considerations for implementation IV. Other elements that impede accountability V. Conclusions VIII. Bibliography.

Abstract In themselves, policies favouring transparency andinformation access do not guarantee that political leaders will provide their people true accountability, as extensive state reforms are also necessary. Without real interinstitutional (horizontal) accountability, there is no possibility of leaders’ providing the vertical accountability that citizens deserve. The present study proposes a series of actions that could form part of the 2010-2016 VeracruzDevelopment Plan, in order to guarantee full transparency and information access, vital elements for the continued development of democracy in the state of Veracruz.

I. The main challenge: strengthening institutions Transparency and information access are indispensable variables used to measure to what degree countries are achieving a democratic system. In recent years, we have witnessed thecreation of democratic institutions such as the Institute of Transparency and Information Access; however, there have been setbacks in the implementation of such measures, and the state faces long-term challenges that must be met in order to guarantee these fundamental rights. In other countries also plagued by a high degree of corruption2, it has been shown that merely implementing these norms orreforms does not ensure that a government becomes more transparent (Del Solar, 2008) or that true accountability is achieved, as the system is designed for the maintenance of great secrecy. After a drawn out process, in 2007 Veracruz passed Law 848 for Transparency and Public Information Access, constituting an important watershed in terms of making governmental actions known to the people ofVeracruz. Until then, there was no institution that guaranteed the right to information access. Nevertheless, one of the major challenges that Veracruz faces in terms of achieving full accountability and consolidating the right to information access is the strengthening of its institutions. This article proposes public policy measures that could be incorporated into the 2010-2016 Veracruz DevelopmentPlan. Accountability would be heightened through the following: an Integral Agency for Integrity

This essay was published in 2011 by The Veracruz Institute of Information Access. Daniel Sousa is Master in Management and Public Policies by University of Chile. 2 Transparency International’s Index of Perceived Corruption indicates that in 2009, Mexico occupied the 89th position worldwide and the20th on this continent, reflecting the perception of substantial government corruption.

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and Transparency, which would regulate lobbying, how changes are instated, and the way that knowledge is disclosed; investment in the citizenry; a law regulating public purchases; the installation of a civil service through a management system known as High Public Office; the strengthening of regulatorybodies and Veracruz’s Institute of Information Access, so that it could impose harsher sanctions. On the last point, improving this Institute would help modernise the state of Veracruz by mobilising the implementation of public policies—a step toward greater democratisation. II. Accountability, information Access, and the degree of democracy

Accountability, according to Schedler (1999), can betranslated as a self-restraining state; in practice, it refers to mandatory answerability. As occurs in other mechanisms that control the exercise of power, the notion involves two parties, one--who administers the government--obliged to acknowledge and assume responsibility for its actions and another—the citizens—who demand that government workings be justified. In Schedler’s analysis,...