Credible commitment and political salience
So far, political salience and credible commitments have been ascribed
an independent effect on political accountability. However, the impact of
the need for credible commitment in the delegation process may be
mediated by political salience. Elgie and McMenamin (2005: 546) argue
that politicians are likely to be more concerned with credible commitment
when the issue in question is politically salient and directly related to
electoral competition. As a consequence, ‘‘there may be two different
theories of delegation: one for politically salient decisions and one for those
which are ‘under the radar’ of electorally-sensitive politicians’’ (2005: 548).
This argument leads to the fifth hypothesis:
H5: The impact of the need for credible commitment on degrees of
accountability is higher in policy areas which are more politically salien