Silence of accountability in the age of ‘Doliocracy’
19 March 2025 15:00 until 16:00
University of Sussex Campus - Jubilee Building, Room G32 & online
Speaker: Shoaib Ahmed – University of Sussex
Part of the series: Sustainability in Accounting, Finance & Economics (SAFE) Brown Bag Research Seminar
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Abstract:
This paper critically interrogates the concept of accountability as an ethical imperative, focusing on how democratically elected governments undermine institutional integrity by legitimizing partisan subservience. It introduces Doliocracy, a governance paradigm rooted in partisan loyalty that systematically dismantles meritocratic, bureaucratic, and technocratic structures, privileging absolute obedience over competence. This subservience is maintained through the strategic orchestration of silence—not as a passive absence but as an active discursive tool that suppresses counter-narratives and reinforces the epistemological and ethical authoritarianism of political dynasties. At the core of this governance is the emergence of Doliocrats—a privileged class whose partisan allegiance destroy ethical and professional norms, enabling corruption, manipulation, and institutional decay. The paper calls for a critical re-evaluation of accountability’s role in democratic governance, questioning whether it genuinely promotes transparency or functions as a façade that legitimizes authoritarianism under the guise of democracy.
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