7. Comparative Analysis

This chapter discussed the empirical findings from the Serbian, Croatian and Macedonian ACAs, in the light of the research questions on the role of organisational factors and agency leaders in shaping agency enforcement. The analysis shows that the ACAs’ leaders trumped structural insulation in determining the ACAs’ de facto autonomy. The analysis also shows that the organisational model played an important role in mediating the leaders’ decisions to pursue, or to stay away, from harsh patterns of enforcement. The analysis elucidates how the differences in mandates and powers between the preventative ACA model and suppressive ACA model led to different logics of accountability exercised before the audiences, requiring two different constellations of organisational factors as preconditions for a harsh enforcement pattern.