'The Smith Commission: will greater powers come with greater democratic accountability?', Paul Cairney, 28 October 2014

The main focus of the Smith Commission is to decide which powers should be devolved to the Scottish Parliament. Yet, in practice, these powers are held by the Scottish Government and devolved to, or shared with, a large number of governmental, non-governmental and quasi-non-governmental bodies. As a result, no one is quite sure who is responsible for decisions made in the name of the Scottish Parliament. This makes it almost impossible to identify a democratic system in which there are meaningful levels of accountability – either through the ballot box or in our day to day scrutiny of government policy. The Smith process should not just be a means to devolve greater powers. Rather, it should consider how to make sure that, with greater responsibility, comes greater democratic accountability. […]

'The Smith Commission: will greater powers come with greater democratic accountability?', Paul Cairney, 28 October 2014
http://www.futureukandscotland.ac.uk/blog/smith-commission-will-greater-powers-come-greater-democratic-accountability