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Center for War Studies

Towards Intelligence Accountability as a virtue

By Melanie Hartvigsen, Ph.D. Student CWS, 9/25/2023

This article 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 Hartvigvsen propose 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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Editing was completed: 25.09.2023