How is intelligence accountability studied and what are the consequences?

Melanie Sofia Hartvigsen investigates the conceptualisation of accountability in the Intelligence Studies literature, distinguishing between accountability as a mechanism and a virtue, and questions the predominant emphasis on the former.

The mechanism approach encounters two significant challenges: the functionalist solutions to accountability issues and the overarching focus on oversight bodies. Consequently, the literature ignores its own realisations of the importance of beliefs and perceptions within the services.

Melanie proposes a novel approach to studying intelligence accountability by integrating insights from the Institutional Logics literature and Bourdieu’s political sociology to address these issues.

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