The most important result of the analysis is the finding that political
salience matters for the degree of formal political accountability. Support
for the hypothesis on issue salience is found in all three models. Agencies
which deal with issues of higher political salience are also subject to significantly
higher degrees of accountability. The hypothesis that independent
agencies whose legislation is written in periods of higher political
salience of the issue of accountability are subject to higher degrees of formal
political accountability is also confirmed in the three models. The salience
of the issue of accountability is positively and significantly related to the
degree of political accountability which is incorporated into statutes.