In classical democratic theory, the justification for accountability related almost exclusively to elected representatives. In contemporary governance thinking, by contrast, the objects of accountability initiatives quite centrally, if not primarily, include
non-elected public bureaucracies.
This is not particularly surprising given the blurring, in recent times, of the line between the political and the administrative. The enlargement of bureaucracies and the often collaborative nature of their relationship with the political executive have made it difficult to attribute particular actions to either.
