ABSTRACT
The history of the way men and women have tried to govern themselves by making and enforcing rules and creating institutions is long and appropriately complex. Because electoral accountability seems to be a more streamlined process than interinstitutional accountability, it has received more attention. Under some conditions, the overall process of accountability will also become an exercise in putting the blame on others, shifting the blame somewhere else, and skirting all the blame: buckpassing. Accountability is a process that develops itself and more and more it will appear to be performed through the mass media. The voters, the candidates, the parliamentarians, and the parties have been increasingly obliged to pay attention to the role played by the mass media in channeling the information on which much of accountability relies. This chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
