Democracy and Government Accountability

As members of the DGAP network considered the vision and scope of this report card, they thought in great detail about the meaning of the words “democracy” and “government accountability.” What they came up with seemed to address two groups of people: elected officials and the residents themselves. They realized that democracy is achieved by holding city officials accountable for their actions and enforcing the obligation of governments to bear the consequences for failure to perform as expected. In order to achieve this vision, residents must be well-educated about how their government functions and performs.