The Accountability cycle in public agencies: lessons from Italian experiences

The diffusion of Public Agencies seems to characterise the approach to public management in European countries. Under New Public Management, the role of politics is to provide strategic planning and economic policy target definition, whereas the administration is responsible for the management of public services. Moreover, the separation between politics and administration is strengthened by downsizing and decentralizing the public central administration. The current paper argues that this split necessitates careful attention to the adoption of models of accountability that respond to both citizen and political information needs. Thus, with respect to public agencies, this paper models accountability levels, defines an accountability cycle showing the relations between politics, administration, and citizens, and applies this model to the Italian case.