ABSTRACT
Accountability is a term that is rarely agreed upon in the public administration literature to begin with. Add to it now, the complexity of contracted and networked relationships and our understanding of accountability becomes even more muddled. The literature offers two pictures of this situation by suggesting that contracted and networked relationships create the possibilities of multiple accountabilities. It is not clear whether multiple accountabilities are good for these types of relationships. This entry offers an overview of the main arguments pertaining to multiple accountabilities in public, contracted, and networked relationships.
