10-14-2025 2:02pm

The Informed Citizen: Why Public Accountability Begins with Us by Dr Shellie Bowman

John L Williams Editor

When Accountability Starts at Home

Every democracy stands on two pillars, trust and participation. When either weakens, the whole structure begins to sway. In moments of frustration or apathy, it can be tempting to assume accountability is someone else’s job, an inspector general’s, a journalist’s, or a watchdog agency’s. Yet history and public administration scholarship remind us that the true stewards of accountability are the people themselves (Denhardt & Denhardt, 2015).

An “informed citizen” is not merely someone who votes; it is someone who understands the machinery of government, tracks how decisions affect communities, and acts when those entrusted with power forget whom they serve. As political philosopher John Stuart Mill argued, the health of a representative government depends not only on the wisdom of the rulers but on “the active and informed character of the people” who hold them accountable (Mill, 1861/1991).

To read the rest of the article click on https://open.substack.com/pub/drshellieb/p/the-informed-citizen-why-pub…

To read previous articles by Dr Bowman
https://open.substack.com/pub/drshellieb