ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the issue of the causal relationships between different stages of the process of democratization, using Central and Eastern Europe as an explanatory case. It focuses on a specific dimension of democracy, accountability, because of its centrality in every step of the democratic development: transition, consolidation and deepening of the qualities of democracy. The chapter uses some empirical examples that are particularly relevant in relation to the dimension of accountability, in order to illustrate the causal relationships between each phase of democratization. It analyses democratic accountability as a pivotal dimension in an analysis that considers the entire democratization process of two post-Communist European countries. The chapter considers accountability as a formal set of rules, an institutional mechanism that ensures a balance between powers. It also focuses on the dimension of democratic accountability in Poland and Hungary, with the aim of highlighting the causal relationship between different stages of the democratization process in these two countries.
