DEMOCRACY AND ACCOUNTABILITY IN PUBLIC BODIES - NEW AGENDAS IN BRITISH GOVERNANCE

The establishment of various commissions concerned with local governan ce as well as the Nolan Committee's examination of standards in public life all point to growing public: concern with the effectiveness of t raditional mechanisms for holding politicians and policy makers to acc ount. This article introduces the special issue on the democratisation of public bodies in the UK through three strands, First, it discusses theoretical conceptions of democracy and the related processes of dem ocratisation. Second, it considers a number of recent political initia tives concerned with strengthening democratic decision making, especia lly at the local level. Finally, it offers a critical review of the su bsequent articles in the special issue.