Science Fair Project Encyclopedia Accountability means being
held to account, scrutinised, and being required to give an
account or explanation. In politics, and particularly in
representative democracies, accountability is an important
factor in securing good governance. Accountability differs from
transparency in that it only enables negative feedback after a
decision or action, while transparency also enables negative
feedback before or during a decision or action. Accountability
constrains the extent to which elected representatives and other
office-holders can willfully deviate from their theoretical
responsibilities, thus reducing corruption. The goal of
accountability is at times in tension with the goal of
leadership. A constituency may have short-term desires which are
at odds with long-term interests. See also: campaign finance
reform. The contents of this article is licensed from
www.wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License.
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