Science and Public Policy July 2009 0302-3427/09/060469-14 US$12.00 © Beech Tree Publishing 2009 469 Science and Public Policy, 36(6), July 2009, pages 469–482 DOI: 10.3152/030234209X460999; http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/beech/spp Science policy and public accountability in Poland: the case of embryonic stem-cell research Teresa Kulawik This article examines how exercises of public involvement in science policy, which have been transported to the new member states via EU regulations, function in post-socialist democracies. Given Poland’s agonistic and non-transparent policy style, the public consultation process in the case of embryonic stem-cell research stands out as an exemplary model of ensuring public awareness and high- quality communication. When taking a closer look at the applied accountability criteria, however, the overall assessment becomes more critical. Still, an important result of this case study is that deliberative exercises based on face-to-face forums facilitate communication and contribute to mutual understanding even within highly polarized and antagonistic constellations. The findings of the case study suggest that exercises of public involvement need more precise institutional rules to have an impact on advancing public accountability in consolidating democracies. HE CONCEPT OF accountability has several meanings. It is often used synonymously with answerability, responsibility, liability and other terms associated with expectations of account- giving. In representative democracies, accountability is an important factor in securing the legitimacy of public power. Today, accountability is measured ac- cording to a wider range of criteria than some dec- ades ago. The current debate in the political realm reaches beyond a pure model of government ac- countability based on democratic elections and rep- resentative assemblies. Instead, it suggests that neither voting the ruling party out of office nor the parliament are able to sufficiently control the gov- ernment and secure what is labeled as ‘good govern- ance’ in today’s democracies. Accountability has commonly been equated with performance account- ability; in recent literature it has also increasingly begun to include policy-making. As Susan Rose- Ackerman argues, governments: should be accountable to the public in setting policy. The ‘public’ includes those who voted for the current government in the last election, but it also includes those affected by and inter- ested in particular policy choices. (Rose- Ackerman, 2002: 9) In this vein, the interaction between government pol- icy-making and citizen engagement and participation in public affairs is central to accountability. The analysis here focuses on the latter dimension of ac- countability pertaining to the process of government policy-making. In Poland, citizen participation in public affairs might be deemed as a particularly urgent issue. Ac- cording to a survey of the European Union, Poland scores the highest in response to how important it T Teresa Kulawik is Professor of Gender Studies, and Research Leader at the Center for Baltic and East European Studies, Södertörn University, Stockholm, 14189 Huddinge, Sweden; Email: teresa.kulawik@sh.se. This article is a revised version of a paper, which was pre- sented at the 3rd Mokrzycki Symposium, 20–21 October 2006, in Warsaw, Poland. The author would like to thank the partici- pants for their valuable comments and is also grateful for help- ful comments from the anonymous referees. This study is part of a research project on gene technology, democracy and deliberation in Germany, Poland and Sweden, which was supported by the Swedish Research Council. The au- thor would like to thank all her interview partners in Poland. She is especially indebted to Eleonora Zielińska, who has con- siderably eased the task of collecting material, for her support. She would also like to thank Monika Zima and Maria Cichocka for their research assistance. Last but not least she would like to thank Erika Doucette and the editors of the journal who have turned her manuscript into a printable English text.