Transparency and Secrecy

Suzanne J. Piotrowski

doi:10.5771/9781461634560

Summary

Gaining access to government information is a perpetual concern of citizens. This is due in large part to the relationship between transparency and the issues of ethics, corruption, administrative malfeasance, and accountability. The last few years have proven that governmental transparency is a burgeoning academic subfield spurred on by contemporary political events and attention generated by the popular press. This reader addresses the topics of governmental transparency and secrecy and includes original discussion, classic readings, and primary source documents. Transparency and Secrecy is organized according to a theoretical model fully developed in the introduction. Governmental transparency is the degree to which access to government information is available through various channels. These avenues of access to information include governments proactively releasing information, freedom-of-information type requests, open meetings, and whistleblowing and leaks. The reader addresses each of these components as well as values that compete with openness such as privacy, security, and efficiency. The chapter discussion sections begin with the presentation of cases to make the material relevant to students. The cases together with the review of the literature help readers understand how each aspect of transparency is relevant to contemporary public policy debates. The discussion sections include a brief summary of the included articles and place these readings within the scholarship at large. Integrative study questions, suggested class projects, recommendations for case studies, movies, and supplemental reading all make Transparency and Secrecy ideal for classroom adoption.

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Bibliographic data

Copyright year: 2010
ISBN-Print: 978-0-7391-2751-3
ISBN-Online: 978-1-4616-3456-0
Publisher: Lexington, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: 203
Product type: Book Titles

1. Table of Contents No access
2. Preface No access
3. Introduction No access
1. Introduction No access
2. The Power Position of the Bureaucracy No access
3. Administrative Secrecy: A Congressional Dilemma No access
4. Claude Reyes et al. v. Chile Inter-American Court of Human Rights No access
5. Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies. Subject: Transparency and Open Government No access
1. Introduction No access
2. The Right to Privacy No access
3. Privacy Rights and Protection: Foreign Values in Modern Thai Context No access
4. National Security and Open Government in the United States: Beyond the Balancing Test No access
5. Governmental Transparency in the Path of Administrative Reform No access
1. Introduction No access
2. Article 6 of Mexican Constitution No access
3. Outsourcing the Constitution and Administrative Law Norms No access
4. A Partial Revolution: The Diplomatic Ethos and Transparency in Intergovernmental Organizations No access
1. Introduction No access
2. The Evolution of E-Government among Municipalities: Rhetoric or Reality? No access
3. Mr. Justice Brandeis and the Creation of the Federal Register No access
4. At the Intersection of Bureaucracy, Democracy, and the Media: The Effective Agency Spokesperson Mordecai Lee No access
1. Introduction No access
2. Open Meeting Statutes: The Press Fights for the "Right to Know" No access
3. The Democratic Legitimacy of the European Union Committee System No access
4. Critical Factors for Enhancing Municipal Public Hearings No access
1. Introduction No access
2. Whistleblowing and Leaks No access
3. The Enduring Phenomenon of Moral Muteness No access
Notes No access Pages 163 - 178
Bibliography No access Pages 179 - 200
Index No access Pages 201 - 202
About the Editor No access Pages 203 - 203