Social accountability and complexity theory

Mabri, Neila and Wheatley, Steven and Webb, Thomas (2025) Social accountability and complexity theory. PhD thesis, Lancaster University.

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Abstract

The World Bank’s social accountability programmes promote good governance practices in developing countries. These programmes have had a mixed record of success. Existing literature reports that the success or failure of a programme is largely context-dependent, i.e., dependent on local social, economic, and political circumstances. If this is true, we cannot predict when social accountability programmes will be successful, and it will not be possible for the World Bank to develop a template for successful programmes. This thesis disagrees with the negative reading; it argues that the present analysis lacks recognition of the fact that domestic political systems in all countries are complex systems. Viewing the political system as complex requires understanding the fundamental mechanisms that make these systems more resilient and adaptable: self-organisation, feedback mechanisms, and openness. We would expect, then, that social accountability programmes would be more successful when they are aligned with the understanding that the political system is a complex system. This thesis finds this to be the case: successful social accountability initiatives promote citizens’ self-organisation, reinforce positive feedback mechanisms and promote openness in the domestic political system. Therefore, while local social, political, and economic circumstances remain important, we can draw more comprehensive insights into when social accountability programmes will be more effective, and the World Bank can develop a template for successful social accountability programmes.