Learning Processes in International Accountability Mechanisms

Citizen engagement at the international level has experienced a dramatic growth rate in the last decade. This article will explore some of the roots of that development – whether social, technological, or political – but focus primarily on how a highly diffuse process of growth has, in fact, developed feedback mechanisms among citizens and institutions to accelerate the growth in effectiveness of citizen engagement. As is well known from citizen engagement at all levels – local, regional, national, or beyond – there must be rapid and interactive sharing of results of institutional change to move onto a more effective plane of action.