Over the last decade, the United Nation system has undergone a significant shift towards a managerial model, which had been envisaged since the late 1980s. In the light of these trends, the purpose of this chapter is to identify the factors affecting the level and the type of United Nations external accountability. In order to fulfill this purpose, drawing on contingency and legitimacy theory, three main categories of influencing factors have been identified: organizational factors (size, complexity, decentralization, financial performance), corporate governance factors(rules and mechanisms for the inclusion of stakeholders’ interests and their participation in governing bodies), and external factors (visibility, external uncertainty, market factors). To carry out the study, a panel of five representative organizations of the United Nations has been identified and their periodical reports on performances analyzed through a checklist scoring the overall, the financial and the non-financial accountability levels. Finally, the main factors affecting these levels of accountability have been detected and discussed.
Between Managerial Reform and Search for Legitimacy: Strengthening United Nations Accountability
STECCOLINI, ILEANA
2007
Abstract
Over the last decade, the United Nation system has undergone a significant shift towards a managerial model, which had been envisaged since the late 1980s. In the light of these trends, the purpose of this chapter is to identify the factors affecting the level and the type of United Nations external accountability. In order to fulfill this purpose, drawing on contingency and legitimacy theory, three main categories of influencing factors have been identified: organizational factors (size, complexity, decentralization, financial performance), corporate governance factors(rules and mechanisms for the inclusion of stakeholders’ interests and their participation in governing bodies), and external factors (visibility, external uncertainty, market factors). To carry out the study, a panel of five representative organizations of the United Nations has been identified and their periodical reports on performances analyzed through a checklist scoring the overall, the financial and the non-financial accountability levels. Finally, the main factors affecting these levels of accountability have been detected and discussed.
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