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Research Handbook on Transparency
In the last two decades transparency has become a ubiquitous and stubbornly ambiguous term. Typically understood to promote rule of law, democratic participation, anti-corruption initiatives, human rights, and economic efficiency, transparency can also legitimate bureaucratic power, advance undemocratic forms of governance, and aid in global centralization of power. This path-breaking volume, comprising original contributions on a range of countries and environments, exposes the many faces of transparency by allowing readers to see the uncertainties, inconsistencies and surprises contained within the current conceptions and applications of the term.
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Critical Acclaim
Contributors
Contents
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In recent years the concept of transparency has received much attention, but few have approached the topic from a critical standpoint. This Handbook explores the different meanings and applications of transparency and their many implications.
The expert contributors identify the goals, purposes and ramifications of transparency while presenting both its advantages and shortcomings. Through this framework, they explore transparency from a number of international and comparative perspectives. Some chapters emphasize cultural and national aspects of the issue, with country-specific examples from China, Mexico, the US and the UK, while others focus on transparency within global organizations such as the World Bank and the WTO. A number of relevant legal considerations are also discussed, including freedom of information laws, financial disclosure of public officials and whistleblower protection.
A diverse and unique volume, the Research Handbook on Transparency will prove an essential reference for scholars, policy makers, practitioners and legal reform advocates.
The expert contributors identify the goals, purposes and ramifications of transparency while presenting both its advantages and shortcomings. Through this framework, they explore transparency from a number of international and comparative perspectives. Some chapters emphasize cultural and national aspects of the issue, with country-specific examples from China, Mexico, the US and the UK, while others focus on transparency within global organizations such as the World Bank and the WTO. A number of relevant legal considerations are also discussed, including freedom of information laws, financial disclosure of public officials and whistleblower protection.
A diverse and unique volume, the Research Handbook on Transparency will prove an essential reference for scholars, policy makers, practitioners and legal reform advocates.
Critical Acclaim
‘”Transparency” has multiple, contested meanings. This broad-ranging volume accepts that complexity and thoughtfully contrasts alternative views through conceptual pieces, country cases, and assessments of policies – such as freedom of information laws, whistleblower protections, financial disclosure, and participatory policymaking procedures.''
– Susan Rose-Ackerman, Yale University Law School, US
‘For me this book could have been titled Everything I Ever Wanted To Know About Transparency Policy And Law — But Didn’t Know Enough To Ask. It is masterful and unmatched in depth, scope, and acuity. It convincingly analyzes the complexities of transparency on a comparative basis in terms of goals, culture and government, legal approaches, and global governance. What is transparency? What can it be? What are its consequences? How can it be promoted and regulated? Henceforth no one should seriously attempt to address such questions without first reading this outstanding book.’
– David H. Rosenbloom, School of Public Affairs, American University, US
– Susan Rose-Ackerman, Yale University Law School, US
‘For me this book could have been titled Everything I Ever Wanted To Know About Transparency Policy And Law — But Didn’t Know Enough To Ask. It is masterful and unmatched in depth, scope, and acuity. It convincingly analyzes the complexities of transparency on a comparative basis in terms of goals, culture and government, legal approaches, and global governance. What is transparency? What can it be? What are its consequences? How can it be promoted and regulated? Henceforth no one should seriously attempt to address such questions without first reading this outstanding book.’
– David H. Rosenbloom, School of Public Affairs, American University, US
Contributors
Contributors: Padideh Ala’i, J. Ackerman, A.J. Brown, K. Clark, M. D’Orsi, S. Dreyfus, C. Embree, E. Fisher, H.P. Glenn, H. Ala Hamoudi, J.W. Head, D.B. Hunter, W. Liu, J.S. Lubbers, D.J. Metcalfe, S. Routray, I.E. Sandoval, W. Vandekerckhove, R.G. Vaughn
Contents
CONTENTS:
INTRODUCTION
PART I FRAMEWORKS FOR TRANSPARENCY
1. Transparency and Closure
H. Patrick Glenn
2. The Relationship between Transparency, Whistleblowing and Public Trust
A. J. Brown, Wim Vandekerckhove and Suelette Dreyfus
3. Exploring the Legal Architecture of Transparency
Elizabeth Fisher
4. The Associations of Judicial Transparency with Administrative Transparency
Robert G. Vaughn
PART II CULTURAL AND NATIONAL PERSPECTIVES ON TRANSPARENCY
5. Opposing Legal Transparency in Dynastic China: The Persuasive Logic of Confucianist Views on Legal Opaqueness
John W. Head
6. Transparency and the Shi’i Clerical Elite
Haider Al Hamoudi
7. Transparency under Dispute: Public Relations, Bureaucracy, and Democracy in Mexico
Irma Eréndira Sandoval
8. When Transparency Meets Politics: The Case of Mexico’s Electoral Ballots
John Mill Ackerman
9. The Role of the Courts in China’s Progress Toward Transparency
Liu Wenjing
PART III. LEGAL APPROACHES TO TRANSPARENCY
10. The History of Government Transparency
Daniel J. Metcalfe
11. The Long and Winding Road to Transparency in the UK
Shonali Routray
12. Transparency in Policymaking—The (Mostly) Laudable Example of the U.S. Rulemaking System
Jeffrey S. Lubbers
13. Faux Transparency: Ethics, Privacy, and the Demise of the STOCK Act’s Massive Online Disclosure of Employees’ Finances
Kathleen Clark and Cheryl Embree
PART IV. GLOBAL GOVERNANCE AND TRANSPARENCY
14. Transparency at the World Bank
Daniel J. Metcalfe
15. The Emerging Norm of Transparency in International Environmental Governance
David B. Hunter
16. Transparency in International Economic Relations and the Role of the WTO
Padideh Ala''i & Matthew D''Orsi
Index
INTRODUCTION
PART I FRAMEWORKS FOR TRANSPARENCY
1. Transparency and Closure
H. Patrick Glenn
2. The Relationship between Transparency, Whistleblowing and Public Trust
A. J. Brown, Wim Vandekerckhove and Suelette Dreyfus
3. Exploring the Legal Architecture of Transparency
Elizabeth Fisher
4. The Associations of Judicial Transparency with Administrative Transparency
Robert G. Vaughn
PART II CULTURAL AND NATIONAL PERSPECTIVES ON TRANSPARENCY
5. Opposing Legal Transparency in Dynastic China: The Persuasive Logic of Confucianist Views on Legal Opaqueness
John W. Head
6. Transparency and the Shi’i Clerical Elite
Haider Al Hamoudi
7. Transparency under Dispute: Public Relations, Bureaucracy, and Democracy in Mexico
Irma Eréndira Sandoval
8. When Transparency Meets Politics: The Case of Mexico’s Electoral Ballots
John Mill Ackerman
9. The Role of the Courts in China’s Progress Toward Transparency
Liu Wenjing
PART III. LEGAL APPROACHES TO TRANSPARENCY
10. The History of Government Transparency
Daniel J. Metcalfe
11. The Long and Winding Road to Transparency in the UK
Shonali Routray
12. Transparency in Policymaking—The (Mostly) Laudable Example of the U.S. Rulemaking System
Jeffrey S. Lubbers
13. Faux Transparency: Ethics, Privacy, and the Demise of the STOCK Act’s Massive Online Disclosure of Employees’ Finances
Kathleen Clark and Cheryl Embree
PART IV. GLOBAL GOVERNANCE AND TRANSPARENCY
14. Transparency at the World Bank
Daniel J. Metcalfe
15. The Emerging Norm of Transparency in International Environmental Governance
David B. Hunter
16. Transparency in International Economic Relations and the Role of the WTO
Padideh Ala''i & Matthew D''Orsi
Index
