美国联邦政府层面的问责从兴起到发展,呈现出了别具本土特色的轨迹和特征。美国问责机制的发展并非概念化问责的结果,而是为了应对实践中不断发生的一次又一次的政权合法性危机。新的问责机制总是在克服旧机制在回应民众所需方面不足的基础上自然而然地产生,而旧的问责机制依然存在。传统公共管理框架下典型的单一式等级式问责已经向多元化、多视角的网状问责模式转变,这种交叉重叠的关系对于促成问责体系内不同问责机制之间的监督和制衡无疑具有决定性作用。对于问责概念的把握,应当特别注意问责在美国所具有的民主性、控权性,以及问责所承载的人民期待之特性。 At the federal level, the accountability of the United States emerged from the rise to the development, showing a unique local characteristics of the trajectory and characteristics. The development of the accountability mechanism in the United States is not the result of conceptualizing accountability. It is to deal with the crisis of regime legitimacy that has been taking place again and again in practice. The new accountability mechanisms are always created on the basis of overcoming the shortcomings of the old mechanisms in response to the needs of the people, while the old accountability mechanisms still exist. The typical single-level hierarchical accountability under the traditional framework of public administration has shifted towards a multi-faceted, multi-perspective reticular accountability model that overshadows and balances the different accountability mechanisms within an accountability system Undoubtedly have a decisive role. With regard to grasping the concept of accountability, special attention should be paid to the democratization and control power of accountability in the United States and the expected characteristics of the people carried by accountability.