Analysing Public Accountability Procedures in Europe (PubAcc)

The project involves a comparison governance issues in relation to technological development in seven European countries (Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Latvia, Portugal, and the United Kingdom). The aim is to contribute to a better understanding of decision-making processes, and, in particular, the roles of different actors and different strategies, in the procedures by which policy decisions are accounted for and legitimated. In the initial phase, national profiles have been written for each country as a background to the more detailed case studies - on GM foods, transport policy, and waste management - that are to take most of the research time. The project, funded by the European Commission, was initiated in September 2001, and will run until 2004. (Andrew Jamison; Simon Joss, The University of Westminster, London, UK)