Government’s Credible Accountability and Strategic Policy Capacity: Evidence from the Asian NICs of Taiwan, South Korea, Malaysia, and Singapore

Abstract

How does increasing government accountability to its citizens increase policy capacity? In this chapter, we build on the strategic interaction approach to provide a theoretical framework of government’s credible accountability that increases policy capacity. Importantly, the government’s credible accountability rests on its commitment to specific processes that embody transparency, accountability, and responsiveness that are independent of democratic progress. Drawing on evidence from East and Southeast Asia—specifically, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, and Malaysia—during the 1997–1998 Asian Financial Crisis, we show how each government’s demonstration or failure to demonstrate credible accountability affected its policy capacity. This chapter makes three contributions to the literature. First, it provides a theoretical framework for building policy capacity through the government’s credible accountability. This departs from prevailing economic-growth explanations of policy capacity in East and Southeast Asia. Second, this evidence maps citizens’ quiescence to government accountability rather than citizens’ passiveness or ignorance; thus, the model treats citizens as active and strategic. Third, the increased policy capacity reveals an overlooked process that increases government accountability without compromising the government’s policy reach or absorbing its resources.