Rationale for literature on accountability

Why is there the interest in accountability? In Europe, the growth in the EU has put pressure on accountability mechanisms, and it is necessary to legitimise and democratise governance that occurs at many levels, in a manner that breaks chains of accountability, hence Bovens’ comment: no unbroken chain”. There has been a push to improve performance and decision making, modernising accountability and control procedures (Curristan?, 2005).

New Public Management (NPM) comes into the literature on EU governance and accountability. NPM makes demands – this is the reform in the public sector which involves transferring business and marketing principals from the private sector to the public sector with the aim of improving efficiently by applying business techniques.