Paradoxes and Unintended Consequences of Transparency

Abstract

Historically, states have differed from one another in terms of the scope of the information they have collected – and, more importantly, its allocation and publicity. There is now pressure for convergence in the standards of public access to government information. There is a new interest in making government information public, often debated under the headings of ‘openness’, ‘transparency’ and ‘public sector information’. Some of these developments are contextually specific, but many of their aspects are part of a wider international agenda of ‘good governance’, the ‘knowledge economy’ and ‘better regulation’. In looking at this process of change from an institutional perspective, this study analyzes the ideational changes in institutional practices governing state information. I explore the ideational and ideological aspects of this process, and thus indicate the sorts of shifts in belief systems that are driving these changes, and that stress efficiency and economic competitiveness. At the institutional level, I will consider the changes that are taking place and certain unintended consequences of the above reforms. The second part of the book analyzes developments in Finland, where there is arguably a long-standing tradition of openness in public administration. This Nordic tradition has been rethought since the mid 1990s, when Finnish governance underwent much transformation and adopted an altogether different course.