On Emergency Accountability

Due to accountability system being implemented in recent years, China has attained an enormous achievement in keeping party and government organs clear and honest, and improving administrative performance. However, there is not prominent effect to be found in controlling frequent emergency incidents. So, it has significant meanings to study accountability of emergency.The thesis includes three aspects. First part including chapterⅠandⅡis on the history, statute and conception of accountability; second part including chapterⅢ,ⅣandⅤis on the accountability of emergency response; third part including chapterⅥandⅦis on the safety supervision and administration accountability of emergency incident. The main contents are as following:ChapterⅠis on the history and statute of accountability. Accountability is a question on practice and history. Reviewing the history of accountability should begin with its practice history, system history, history of ideas. The reviewed scope of accountability history is limited to the construction of“system of accountability”. To analysis carefully the recent statutes of accountability framed by local government by empirical investigation, we can know the attitude of local government to accountability, and create inspiration to research the question on emergency accountability.ChapterⅡis on the conception of‘accountability’and its tendency of theory. According to the interrelated literature, first, the chapter reviews the origin of‘accountability’and its route of being introduced into Chinese. Second, it also reviews the definition, types and relationships of accountability, the functions, deficiencies and limit of accountability. Third, the chapter reviews the theoretic foundation and tendencies of accountability. On the base of the theory of democracy and constitutionalism, these ideas of horizontal accountability, deliberative accountability, ex-ante accountability, individual accountability based on public safety are now very prevalent.ChapterⅢis on the new explanation to the idea of accountability. Traditional accountability system is vertical accountability based on bureaucracy, and its key idea is to make a actor bear his responsibility. The idea not only has an enormous contrast to‘accountability’, but also makes obstacles to farther research of the thesis.ChapterⅣis on the accountability of emergency response. Emergency response should emphasis its process. Present accountability system with the main purpose of investigating responsibility cannot effectively supervise the implementation of responsibility in the process of emergency response. Constructing Accountability System of Emergency Response (ASER) and making it become a prepositive process of the present investigation system of legal responsibility can not only compensate the shortcomings of the present accountability system, but also help to perfect the management system of emergency response. The main motive for the conversion of the conception of accountability is the dilemma created by emergency situations. The accurate connotation of‘accountability’is based upon the fact that the performed duty of accountor can be supervised and questioned, and the accountor will give response to the supervision and inquiry. Merely taking accountability system for responsibility investigation system will inevitably result in many problems. Also, investigation of responsibility after emergency incidents is not conducive to the response to an emergency, and cannot ensure that any duty in the response process will be carried out. The main purpose of constructing ASER is to reinforce contingency management and to fulfill the responsibilities in the process of emergency response. Therefore, accountability of emergency response should abide by three principles. Legal nexus of response accountability is the core of ASER, and is related to conceptions such as accountee, accountor, object and type of accountability, etc., and embodied five kinds of relationships between the three types of accountee and four types of accountor. According to“how to implement responsibility”, to frame procedure of response accountability should conform to“close principia”and“efficiency principia”. In practice, we prefer the informal simple procedure over the formal normative procedure.ChapterⅤis on legal study to accountability of emergency response. To construct ASER is the main aim of the chapter on the base of current statutes on emergency response. Thus the chapter reviews detailedly the provisions of legal liability in Emergency Response Law of the People’s Republic of China, and analyses their deficiencies and provides relevant advices.ChapterⅥis on whole review to safety supervision and administration accountability of emergency. As far as safety supervision and administration is considered, the most important problem is that the relationships of supervision and administration are too complex. So the chapter gives an emphasis to the organs and systems of safety supervision and administration, and also demonstrates that ex-ante accountability of emergency safety supervision and administration is necessary and possible.ChapterⅦis on the accountability of accidental disaster safety supervision and administration. According to the cases on emergency accountability, the reason for the results of emergency incidents is that the main responsibility of corporation and the responsibility of safety supervision and administration are not fulfilled, and it is also immediate motivation of constructing Accountability System of Safety Supervision and Administration (ASSSA). Implementing ASSSA not only has political significance, but also is of practical interest. The complexity of safety supervision and administration system embodies that regulatory objects and administrative departments are multitudinous, and safety supervision and administration function is intersected and superposed. Safety supervision and administration system is related to accountability subject, indirect and direct object of accountability. Because of the importance of preventing emergency incidents, safety supervision and administration accountability should emphasis that to fulfill prospective duty before emergency occurred is necessary and possible. The theory of“chain of responsibility”can demonstrate the possibility. Safety supervision and administration duties are enacted in multifarious statutes, and relate to the enactment of accountability clauses and the design of concrete systems. To prevent congeneric emergency incidents, enacting the accountability clauses should regard former accountability cases.“Multi-departments supervision and administration system”leads to the serious safety administrative questions. To resolve the questions, we must contrive the accountability subject system of“one organ supervises and inspects, multi-departments administrate respectively”.