Good Lawmaking, Democracy, and Accountability.

The article examines lawmaking and accountability in democracy by comparing ancient Athenian direct democracy (508–323 BC) with modern representative democracies. It highlights three main drawbacks of contemporary accountability: the principal-agent problem, periodic accountability limited to election cycles, and information asymmetry between governments and citizens. Ancient Athens addressed these issues through direct citizen participation in lawmaking, strict accountability mechanisms such as the euthyna auditing process, and real-time access to debates in the Assembly, fostering trust and reducing corruption. The authors suggest that modern democracies could improve governance quality by incorporating elements of direct democracy, including recall elections, citizen initiatives, public consultations, and stringent penalties for corruption, drawing inspiration from Athenian institutions.