In Democratic Legitimacy Frederick Barnard argues that political accountability is as important to the democratic ethic as political participation - and equally in need of reappraisal and invigoration. Unless its importance is recognised, accountability, like participation, will remain an idea that is easy to praise but difficult to incorporate into political life. Barnard demonstrates that in a democracy accountability is more than damage control and must be part of considerations in the political forum before decisions are made, not just after the fact when trying to assign blame.