Many programs and reforms for environmental protection are doomed to fail. In developing countries, the situation is critical because programs and reforms are often diverted from their initial objective. Are the forms of democracy in question? Through a comparison of processes that slow down or block the application of the general will, we discuss the democratic conditions required for environmental action. We are then led to examine some factors that prompt the politico-administrative elite to deviate from the rule of law. In other words, it is a question of examining the conditions of elite’s accountability in the particular sector of environment.