This paper examines accountability practices among international civil servants. We analyze the ways on which accountability practices affect their roles and strategy work. Using data from an ethnographic case study, we focus on accountability practices of middle and upper management involved in strategy implementation in an operational unit at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Our findings suggest that actors depending on their position make use of accountability, whether instrumental or expressive, to establish and/or protect their roles and ultimately cement and invigorate their legitimacy within the organization.
