Enacting “accountability in collaborative governance”: lessons in emergency management and earthquake recovery from the 2010–2011 Canterbury Earthquakes

Purpose - The paper illustrates how accountability of collaborative governance was constituted in the context of disaster managerial work carried out by the Government, local authorities, and Maori community organisations, after the 2010–2011 Canterbury earthquakes in New Zealand. Design/methodology/approach - A case study detailing the communitarian approach to disaster recovery management by a nationalised Maori earthquake response network is contrasted with the formal emergency management infrastructure's response to the Canterbury earthquakes. Findings - Critical analysis of the effectiveness and failures of these approaches highlights the institutional and cultural political issues that hinder the institutionalization of collaborative and accountable governance in the fields of disaster risk reduction and emergency management. Research limitations/implications - The paper contributes to the accountability research and practice in general and disaster accountability in particular by addressing a more multifaceted model of ‘accountability combined with collaborative governance’ as a way to build on and critique some of the seemingly more narrow views of accountability. Originality/value - The study presents rare insights on the interactions between formal and community level accountability and collaborative governance in the context of New Public Governance (NPG).