Dubnick, Melvin J. “Separated by a Common Subject.” Remarks Prepared for Presentation at the Joint International Conference of the BAA Special Interest Groups in Corporate Governance and Public Services Accounting, University of Nottingham 14-15 December 2004.
“When Ron Hodges invited me to address this gathering, what he had in mind was the specific issue of why there is so little interdisciplinary and cross disciplinary work being done on the subject of accountability. Thinking about that task, I realized that I have been spending more time trying to create disciplinary bridges than I have devoted to understanding what creates the divide. So this proved more of a challenge than I had initially expected. There are many candidate obstructions and barriers to think about. The most obvious are the disciplines themselves, and it is undeniable that communication across disciplines, schools and departments is often intermittent and politely deferential at best. Within disciplines we typically stick to our own journals and conferences, rarely exploring the relevant work in other fields. Institutional structures and interdepartmental politics at our universities reinforce our myopia, as do the growing demands of the very accountability systems we all study. And to the extent that we believe disciplines reflect distinct paradigms, one can talk about the incommensurability of our intellectual frames and languages. Another important factor has been the rather strange and fascinating nature of our subject matter. Just as a common language seems to divide we Americans from you Brits, so our common subject, accountability, may be the most significant barrier to the interdisciplinary work and cross-disciplinary communication that would benefit us all.”
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AI-Generated Summary:
This document explores the challenges and importance of interdisciplinary research on accountability within governance, emphasizing the need for collaborative venues.
Main Themes
- Governance bridges public and private sectors, sharing a core focus on accountability.
- Accountability is ambiguous, with diverse interpretations across disciplines, languages, and contexts.
- Its family resemblance to terms like responsibility, obligation, and answerability complicates clear definition.
- Disciplinary differences influence how accountability is understood: in accounting (calculability), law (liability), politics (responsiveness), sociology (justification), psychology (answerability).
- Paradigms within disciplines create incommensurability, hindering cross-disciplinary communication.
- Recent social trends, like the crisis of trust and the rise of the “new accountability,” have increased its importance.
- Accountability now spans public, private, and non-profit sectors, linked to performance, transparency, and ethics.
- The proliferation of accountability concepts makes interdisciplinary work urgent but difficult.
- To foster collaboration, the author advocates for creating venues—conferences, journals, research centers, online platforms—that promote diverse perspectives.
- Emphasizes avoiding efforts to impose a single definition, instead encouraging multiple approaches and dialogue.
- Recognizes the UK critical accounting scholarship as a leading example of rigorous interdisciplinary work.
- Plans an international colloquium to facilitate cross-disciplinary exchange and deepen understanding of accountable governance.