Work

Accountability Comparability Barrier: When Institutional Architectures Prevent Cross-Pathway Coherence

Year: 2026

Type: preprint

Abstract: Accountability systems can produce real corrective actions while remaining structurally incomparable across institutional pathways. This note introduces Accountability Comparability Barrier (ACB-B) — a structural condition in which a publicly unified failure event generates stratified visibility pathways that cannot be externally synchronized. The result is not impunity and not inequality of punishment. It is the architectural absence of a comparability surface: a layer that would make consequences across pathways readable as responses to the same event. Two anchor cases instantiate the geometry — U.S. Navy disciplinary architecture and Wells Fargo (2016). The mechanism status of ACB-B remains candidate. This note documents the geometry and the explanatory object, not a confirmed causal claim.

Source: Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)

DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.20365280

Author: Kir, Roman

Language: English

Topic: Public Policy and Administration Research

Subfield: Public Administration

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Peace, justice, and strong institutions, Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: green

OpenAlex ID: W7162247404

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