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Open government is the governing doctrine which sustain that citizens have the right to access the documents and proceedings of the government to allow for effective public oversight. In its broadest construction, it opposes reason of state and other considerations which have tended to legitimize extensive state secrecy. The origins of open-government arguments can be dated to the time of the European
Age of Enlightenment The Age of Enlightenment or the Enlightenment; german: Aufklärung, "Enlightenment"; it, L'Illuminismo, "Enlightenment"; pl, Oświecenie, "Enlightenment"; pt, Iluminismo, "Enlightenment"; es, La Ilustración, "Enlightenment" was an intel ...
, when philosophers debated the proper construction of a then nascent democratic society. It is also increasingly being associated with the concept of democratic reform. The United Nations
Sustainable Development Goal 16 Sustainable Development Goal 16 (SDG 16 or Global Goal 16) is about "peace, justice and strong institutions." One of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals established by the United Nations in 2015, the official wording is: "Promote peaceful and ...
for example advocates for public access to information as a criterion for ensuring accountable and inclusive institutions.


Components

The concept of open government is broad in scope but is most often connected to ideas of government transparency and accountability. Harlan Yu and David G. Robinson specify the distinction between open data and open government in their paper "The New Ambiguity of "Open Government". They define open government in terms of service delivery and public accountability. They argue that technology can be used to facilitate disclosure of information, but that the use of open data technologies does not necessarily equate accountability. The
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; french: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, ''OCDE'') is an intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate e ...
(OECD) approaches open government through the following categories: whole of government coordination, civic engagement and access to information, budget transparency, integrity and the fight against corruption, use of technology, and local development.


History

The term 'open government' originated in the United States after World War II. Wallace Parks, who served on a subcommittee on Government Information created by the U.S. Congress, introduce the term in his 1957 article "The Open Government Principle: Applying the Right to Know under the Constitution". After this and after the passing of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in 1966, federal courts began using the term as a synonym for government transparency. Although this was the first time that 'open government' was introduced the concept of transparency and accountability in government can be traced back to
Ancient Greece Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cult ...
in fifth century B.C.E. Athens where different legal institutions regulated the behavior of officials and offered a path for citizens to express their grievances towards them. One such institution, the euthyna, held officials to a standard of "straightness" and enforced that they give an account in front of an Assembly of citizens about everything that they did that year. In more recent history, the idea that government should be open to public scrutiny and susceptible to
public opinion Public opinion is the collective opinion on a specific topic or voting intention relevant to a society. It is the people's views on matters affecting them. Etymology The term "public opinion" was derived from the French ', which was first use ...
dates back to the time of the Enlightenment, when many '' philosophes'' made an attack on absolutist doctrines of state secrecy. The passage of formal legislature can also be traced to this time with Sweden, (which then included Finland as a Swedish-governed territory) where free press legislation was enacted as part of its constitution ( Freedom of the Press Act, 1766). Influenced by Enlightenment thought, the revolutions in United States (1776) and France (1789), enshrined provisions and requirements for public budgetary accounting and freedom of the press in constitutional articles. In the nineteenth century, attempts by Metternichean statesmen to row back on these measures were vigorously opposed by a number of eminent liberal politicians and writers, including
Jeremy Bentham Jeremy Bentham (; 15 February 1748 Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">O.S._4_February_1747.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Old Style and New Style dates">O.S. 4 February 1747">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.htm ...
, John Stuart Mill and
John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton, 13th Marquess of Groppoli, (10 January 1834 – 19 June 1902), better known as Lord Acton, was an English Catholic historian, politician, and writer. He is best remembered for the remark he w ...
. Open government is widely seen to be a key hallmark of contemporary democratic practice and is often linked to the passing of
freedom of information Freedom of information is freedom of a person or people to publish and consume information. Access to information is the ability for an individual to seek, receive and impart information effectively. This sometimes includes "scientific, indigen ...
legislation. Scandinavian countries claim to have adopted the first freedom of information legislation, dating the origins of its modern provisions to the eighteenth century and Finland continuing the presumption of openness after gaining independence in 1917, passing its Act on Publicity of Official Documents in 1951 (superseded by new legislation in 1999). An emergent development also involves the increasing integration of software and mechanisms that allow citizens to become more directly involved in governance, particularly in the area of legislation. Some refer to this phenomenon as e-participation, which has been described as "the use of information and communication technologies to broaden and deepen political participation by enabling citizens to connect with one another and with their elected representatives".


Current policies


Africa

Morocco's new constitution of 2011, outlined several goals the government wishes to achieve in order to guarantee the citizens right to information. The world has been offering support to the government in order to enact these reforms through the Transparency and Accountability Development Policy Loan (DPL). This loan is part of a joint larger program between the European Union and the African Development Bank to offer financial and technical support to governments attempting to implement reforms. As of 2010, section 35 of Kenya's constitution ensures citizens' rights to government information. The article states "35.(1) Every citizen has the right of access to — (a) information held by the State; and (b) information held by another person and required for the exercise or protection of any right or fundamental freedom ... (3) The State shall publish and publicize any important information affecting the nation." Important government data is now freely available through the Kenya Open Data Initiative.


Asia

Taiwan started its e-government program in 1998 and since then has had a series of laws and executive orders to enforce open government policies. The Freedom of Government Information Law of 2005, stated that all government information must be made public. Such information includes budgets, administrative plans, communication of government agencies, subsidies. Since then it released its open data platform
data.gov.tw
The Sunflower Movement of 2014, emphasized the value that Taiwanese citizens place on openness and transparency. A white paper published by the National Development Council with policy goals for 2020 explores ways to increase citizen participation and use open data for further government transparency. The Philippines passed the Freedom of Information Order in 2016, outlining guidelines to practice government transparency and full public disclosure. In accordance with its General Appropriations Act of 2012, the Philippine government requires government agencies to display a "transparency seal" on their websites, which contains information about the agency's functions, annual reports, officials, budgets, and projects. The
Right to Information The Right to Information (RTI) is an act of the Parliament of India which sets out the rules and procedures regarding citizens' right to information. It replaced the former Freedom of Information Act, 2002. Under the provisions of RTI Act, an ...
(RTI) movement in India, created the RTI law in 2005 after environmental movements demanded the release of information regarding environmental deterioration due to industrialization. Another catalyst for the RTI law and other similar laws in southeast Asia, may have been due to multilateral agencies offering aid and loans in exchange for more transparency or "democratic" policies.


Europe

In the Netherlands, large social unrest and the growing influence of televisions in the 1960s led to a push for more government openness. Access to information legislation was passed in 1980 and since then further emphasis has been placed on measuring the performance of government agencies. Transparency as a legal principle underpins European Union law, for example in regard to the quality of the drafting of legislation, and as a principle to be exercised within government procurement procedures. European law academics argued in 2007 that a "new legal principle", transparency, might be emerging "in gestation" within EU law. The government of the Netherlands adopted an Open Government in Action (''Open overheid in actie'') Plan for 2016–2017, which outlines nine concrete commitments to the open government standards set by the OECD. Since 2018, in Wales, the Welsh Government has funded the training of Wikipedia skills in secondary schools, as part of the Welsh Baccalaureate and uses an open licence on all published videos and other content.


North America

In 2009, President Obama released a memorandum on transparency and open government and started the Open Government Initiative. In his memorandum put forward his administration's goal to strengthen democracy through a transparent, participatory and collaborative government. The initiative has goals of a transparent and collaborative government, in which to end secrecy in Washington, while improving effectiveness through increased communication between citizens and government officials. Movements for government transparency in recent United States history started in the 1950s after World War II because federal departments and agencies had started limiting information availability as a reaction to global hostilities during the war and due to fear of Cold War spies. Agencies were given the right to deny access to information "for good cause found" or "in the public interest". These policies made it difficult for congressional committees to get access to records and documents, which then led to explorations of possible legislative solutions.


South America

Since the early 2000s, transparency has been an important part of Chile's Anti-Corruption and Probity Agenda and State Modernization Agenda. In 2008, Chile passed the Transparency Law has led to further open government reforms. Chile published its open government action plan for 2016-18 as part of its membership of the Open Government Partnership (OGP).


Transparency


Overview

Transparency has been present in many frameworks. It holds importance in more modern discussions because of its presence in new public management. For transparency to work, the idea goes beyond government involvement and must include public trust. Transparency in government has there main aspects. First, budgetary information must be viewable by the public. Second, there must be an effective way to make and enforce laws. Last, non-government organizations and a form of independent media must be at the center for public use. With transparency, there are also factors for data disclosure, such as timeliness, quality, and access and visibility. Data disclosure is important for transparency because it increases public understanding of governmental practices and is the goal of open government. However, there are arguments for both sides of transparency that must be considered.


Arguments for and against


For transparency

Transparency in government is often credited with generating government
accountability Accountability, in terms of ethics and governance, is equated with answerability, blameworthiness, liability, and the expectation of account-giving. As in an aspect of governance, it has been central to discussions related to problems in the pub ...
, which supporters argue leads to reduction in
government corruption Political corruption is the use of powers by government officials or their network contacts for illegitimate private gain. Forms of corruption vary, but can include bribery, lobbying, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, parochialism, patronage, inf ...
,
bribery Bribery is the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official, or other person, in charge of a public or legal duty. With regard to governmental operations, essentially, bribery is "Corru ...
and other
malfeasance Misfeasance, nonfeasance, and malfeasance are types of failure to discharge public obligations existing by common law, custom, or statute. The Carta de Logu caused Eleanor of Arborea to be remembered as one of the first lawmakers to set up the ...
. This is mentioned later and discussed as accountability with transparency. Some commentators contend that an open, transparent government allows for the dissemination of information, which in turn helps produce greater knowledge and societal progress. Organizations supporting transparency policies such as the OECD and the
Open Government Partnership The Open Government Partnership (OGP) is a multilateral initiative that aims to secure concrete commitments from national and sub-national governments to promote open government, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to ...
claim that open government reforms can also lead to increased trust in government, although there is mixed evidence to support these claims, with increased transparency sometimes leading to reduced trust in government. Public opinion can also be shifted when people have access to see the result of a certain policy. The United States government has at times forbid journalists to publish photographs of soldiers' coffins, an apparent attempt to manage emotional reactions that might heighten public criticism of ongoing wars; nonetheless, many believe that emotionally charged images can be valuable information. Similarly, some opponents of the death penalty have argued that executions should be televised so the public can "see what is being done in their name and with their tax dollars." Government transparency is beneficial for efficient democracy, as information helps citizens form meaningful conclusions about upcoming legislation and vote for them in the next election. According to the
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP) is a nonpartisan international affairs think tank headquartered in Washington D.C. with operations in Europe, South and East Asia, and the Middle East as well as the United States. Founded in ...
, greater citizen participation in government is linked to government transparency. Advocates of open government often argue that
civil society Civil society can be understood as the "third sector" of society, distinct from government and business, and including the family and the private sphere.legislation, offers the best route to more transparent administration. They point to the role of
whistleblowers A whistleblower (also written as whistle-blower or whistle blower) is a person, often an employee, who reveals information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe or fraudulent. Whi ...
reporting from inside the government bureaucracy (individuals like Daniel Ellsberg or
Paul van Buitenen Paul van Buitenen (; born 28 May 1957) is a retired Dutch politician of the Europe Transparent Party who served as a Member of the European Parliament from 2004 to 2009. He was an assistant-auditor in the European Commission's Financial Control ...
). They argue that an independent and inquiring press, printed or electronic, is often a stronger guarantor of transparency than legislative checks and balances. The contemporary doctrine of open government finds its strongest advocates in
non-governmental organizations A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...
keen to counter what they see as the inherent tendency of government to lapse, whenever possible, into secrecy. Prominent among these NGOs are bodies like Transparency International or the Open Society Institute. They argue that standards of openness are vital to the ongoing prosperity and development of democratic societies.


Against transparency

Government indecision, poor performance and
gridlock Gridlock is a form of traffic congestion where "continuous queues of vehicles block an entire network of intersecting streets, bringing traffic in all directions to a complete standstill". The term originates from a situation possible in a grid ...
are among the risks of government transparency, according to some critics. Political commentator David Frum wrote in 2014 that, "instead of yielding more accountability, however, these reforms ransparency reformshave yielded more lobbying, more expense, more delay, and more indecision." Jason Grumet argues that government officials cannot properly deliberate, collaborate and compromise when everything they are doing is being watched. A
randomized controlled trial A randomized controlled trial (or randomized control trial; RCT) is a form of scientific experiment used to control factors not under direct experimental control. Examples of RCTs are clinical trials that compare the effects of drugs, surgical te ...
conducted with 463 delegates of the National Assembly of Vietnam showed that increased transparency of the legislative proceedings, such as debates and query transcripts, curtailed delegates activity in the query sessions, avoiding taking part in activities that could embarrass leaders of the Vietnamese regime. Privacy is another concern. Citizens may incur "adverse consequences, retribution or negative repercussions" from information provided by governments. Teresa Scassa, a law professor at the University of Ottawa, outlined three main possible privacy challenges in a 2014 article. First is the difficulty of balancing further transparency of government, while also protecting the privacy of personal information, or information about identifiable individuals that is in the hands of the government. Second is dealing with distinctions between data protection regulations between private and public sector actors because governments may access information collected by private companies which are not controlled by as stringent laws. Third is the release of "Big data", which may appear anonymized can be reconnected to specific individuals using sophisticated algorithms. Intelligence gathering, especially to identify violent threats (whether domestic or foreign), must often be done clandestinely. Frum wrote in 2014 that "the very same imperatives that drive states to collect information also require them to deny doing so. These denials matter even when they are not believed." Moral certitude undergirds much transparency advocacy, but a number of scholars question whether it is possible for us to have that certitude. They have also highlighted how transparency can support certain neoliberal imperatives.


Accountability


Accountability in Open Government

Accountability Accountability, in terms of ethics and governance, is equated with answerability, blameworthiness, liability, and the expectation of account-giving. As in an aspect of governance, it has been central to discussions related to problems in the pub ...
focuses on promoting transparency and allowing the public to understand the actions of their government. Public officials are expected to share details about how public resources are used and what their objectives are. Accountability in open government reduces corruption and increases transparency. However, it is important to note that there is transparency with and without accountability in open government. Transparency without accountability is often more difficult to monitor and there is less responsibility needed from the government. Transparency with accountability has proven to be more effective as a trustworthy relationship can be built between government agencies and people governed by them. The argument with or without transparency was mentioned previously and highlights major issues such as losing governmental trust or privacy issues with accountability. Some governments have created portals in order to allow people to see critical data and improve accountability and transparency. Not all data released on these portals is relevant and easily accessible meaning transparency is not always easily attainable. For example, Given the criteria for valuable information, governments should look for quality, completeness, timeliness, and usability when releasing important information that shows transparency and supports accountability.


Relationship between transparency and accountability

Accountability in open government establishes the presence of transparency within governments. Accountability and transparency work to promote open government in democracies. Through organizations such as the Open Government Partnership (OGP) within the United States, which was established by the U.S. Department of State, there have been efforts to enhance democracies through both accountability and transparency. These efforts reach beyond the scope of North America and even into some Latin American and Asian countries. Promoting open government in Latin American countries has increased public trust and reduced corruption. Latin American countries were among those included in the OGP plan promoted by the United States in the Obama Administration. Additionally, in Asia, there has been a push towards right to information (RTI) to help build accountability. However, these measures in countries have shown open government measures are not one size fits all. They can fail and have to be tweaked for each region and there must be awareness from the public to demand accountability to ensure they receive it from the government. Most of the relationship helps strengthen transparency in governments through the means of accountability. Transparency acts as the vision for open government, allowing the public to have quality access to government records and data. This open access forces governments to be more accountable as they cannot hide corruption with transparency. There can be transparency without accountability, which allows the government to choose which data is of significant value to be released to the public. This does not solve the lack of accountability and highlights the necessity of transparency with accountability. With both transparency and accountability, there must be regulations in place to make agencies justify why they are relinquishing certain information along with strict enforcement to ensure all transparency measures are fulfilled.


Technology and open government

Governments and organizations are using new technologies as a tool for increased transparency. Examples include use of open data platforms to publish information online and the theory of
open source governance Open-source governance (also known as open governance and open politics) is a political philosophy which advocates the application of the philosophies of the open-source and open-content movements to democratic principles to enable any interes ...
. Open government data (OGD), a term which refers specifically to the public publishing of government datasets, is often made available through online platforms such as data.gov.uk or www.data.gov. Proponents of OGD argue that easily accessible data pertaining to governmental institutions allows for further citizen engagement within political institutions. OGD principles require that data is complete, primary, timely, accessible, machine processable, non-discriminatory, non-proprietary, and license free. Public and private sector platforms provide an avenue for citizens to engage while offering access to transparent information that citizens have come to expect. Numerous organizations have worked to consolidate resources for citizens to access government (local, state and federal) budget spending, stimulus spending, lobbyist spending, legislative tracking, and more.


Organizations

*
Open Government Partnership The Open Government Partnership (OGP) is a multilateral initiative that aims to secure concrete commitments from national and sub-national governments to promote open government, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to ...
(OGP) was an organization launched in 2011 to allow domestic reformers to make their own governments across the world more open, accountable, and responsive to citizens. Since 2011, OGP has grown to 75 participating countries today whose government and civil societies work together to develop and implement open government reforms. * Code for All is a non-partisan, non-profit international network of organizations who believe technology leads to new opportunities for citizens to lead a more prominent role in the political sphere and have a positive impact on their communities. The organizations relies on technology to improve government transparency and engage citizens. * The Sunlight Foundation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization founded in 2006 that uses civic tech, open data, and policy analysis to make information from government and politics more transparent to everyone. Their ultimate vision is to increase democratic participation and achieve changes on political money flow and who can influence government. While their work began with an intent to focus only on the US Congress, their work now influences the local, state, federal, and international levels. * Open Government Pioneers UK is an example of a civil society led initiative using open source approaches to support citizens and civil society organisations use open government as a way to secure progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. It uses an Open Wiki to plan the development of an open government civil society movement across the UK's home nations. * OpenSpending aims to build and use open source tools and datasets to gather and analyse the financial transactions of governments around the world.


See also

*
Access to public information Access to public information and freedom of information (FOI) refer to the right to access information held by public bodies also known as " right to know". Access to public information is considered of fundamental importance for the effective fun ...
* Censorship * Civic technology * e-democracy *
e-government E-government (short for electronic government) is the use of technological communications devices, such as computers and the Internet, to provide public services to citizens and other persons in a country or region. E-government offers new ...
*
Government by algorithm Government by algorithm (also known as algorithmic regulation, regulation by algorithms, algorithmic governance, algocratic governance, algorithmic legal order or algocracy) is an alternative form of government or social ordering, where the usa ...
* Glasnost * Issue tracking systems in government * Open data *
Open philanthropy Open Philanthropy is a research and grantmaking foundation that makes grants based on the doctrine of effective altruism. It was founded as a partnership between GiveWell and Good Ventures. Its current co-chief executive officers are Holden ...
* Open society * ''
The Open Society and Its Enemies ''The Open Society and Its Enemies'' is a work on political philosophy by the philosopher Karl Popper, in which the author presents a "defence of the open society against its enemies", and offers a critique of theories of teleological historicism ...
''an essay by philosopher
Karl Popper Sir Karl Raimund Popper (28 July 1902 – 17 September 1994) was an Austrian-British philosopher, academic and social commentator. One of the 20th century's most influential philosophers of science, Popper is known for his rejection of the c ...
*
Political corruption Political corruption is the use of powers by government officials or their network contacts for illegitimate private gain. Forms of corruption vary, but can include bribery, lobbying, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, parochialism, patronage, i ...
*
Political communication Political communication is a subfield of communication and political science that is concerned with how information spreads and influences politics, policy makers, the news media, and citizens. Since the advent of the World Wide Web, the amoun ...
* Privacy *
Public trust The concept of public trust relates back to the origins of democratic government and its seminal idea that within the public lies the true power and future of a society; therefore, whatever ''trust'' citizens place in its officials must be respec ...
*
Transparency (behavior) As an ethic that spans science, engineering, business, and the humanities, transparency is operating in such a way that it is easy for others to see what actions are performed. Transparency implies openness, communication, and accountability. Tran ...
*
WikiLeaks WikiLeaks () is an international non-profit organisation that published news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous sources. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activist, is generally described as its founder and director and ...


References


Further reading

* * * * * * *Bernd W. Wirtz und Steven Birkmeyer (2015)
Open Government: Origin, Development, and Conceptual Perspectives, in: International Journal of Public Administration Volume 38, Issue 5, 2015.


External links

{{Open movements Open data Political law Political science