ABSTRACT
The overall question of this volume is how the EU effects national decisionmaking with respect to EUIEEA issues. How is this decision-making different from other national decision-making practices?' To tackle this question a delegation and accountability approach was adopted, From this perspective, a chain of delegation and accountahility connects a number of actors - voters, members of parliament, cabinet ministers and civil servants - in a series of principal agent relationships. The focus is mainly on the 'processes' of delegation and accountahility, in particular possible agency problems and ex ante and ex post control instruments used to prevent or solve such problems. However, some attention is also directed at accountability defined as 'outcomc' (Lupia, this volume). This article compares the five Nordic counu'ies and in particular examines similarities and diffcrcm:es and tries to draw some general conclusions from the evidence provided in the five country chapters.
