How to control politicians? Social cybermovements and new ways for political accountability

Abstract

The problem of political corruption continues to be a major concern on a global scale. In this work I specifically examine the dimension of political accountability and their new possibilities for improvements from the civil society in the networks era. By analysing the literature, I synthesise the main weaknesses in political accountability and I explain the new context of citizen monitoring created by social cybermovements. Taking into account the direct observation of several movements (in the 15-M context), I describe how the transformations in online repertoires of collective action are promoting new types of tactics in order to improve political accountability.