Accountability as a Category of Constitutional Law – Terminological Considerations
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12775/CLR.2020.008Keywords
Accountability, control, political responsibility, legal responsibility, public authorities, Polish doctrine of constitutional lawAbstract
This text presents the category of accountability, which is well known in the social sciences, in the context of constitutional law institutions as a useful tool for reflecting on the development of the taking/giving of an account by reporting to the entity that entrusted the constitutional law institutions with their function. The article argues that accountability can be a pivotal category in at least three dimensions: 1) for the implementation of the principle of the democratic entrustment of power within the obtained mandate; 2) the division of powers and the system of mutual entrustment and settlement of their performance, as well as 3) accounting for competencies entrusted to public administration. The text presents the features of accountability in the system of the division of powers, with the indication of key problems in this area, and briefly presents the institutions of constitutional law that can be treated as serving the implementation of accountability.
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