Infotopia: Unleashing the democratic power of transparency

Politics and Society

Volumn 41, Issue 2, 2013, Pages 183-212

  Fung, Archon ^a  

^a HARVARD UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

Civil society; Democracy; Information disclosure; Open data; Open government; Participation; Transparency

Indexed keywords

EID: 84877329513     PISSN: 00323292     EISSN: 15527514     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/0032329213483107     Document Type: Article

References (46)

1. The discussion in this paper builds upon, and extends, the discussion of transparency in Archon Fung, Mary Graham, and David Weil, Full Disclosure: The Perils and Promise of Transparency (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007).
2. For a justification of why individuals should be able to control the organizations that affect their lives, see Fung, "The Principle of Affected Interests: A Defense," manuscript 2012.
3. On the growth of FOIA provisions globally, see Alasdair Roberts, Blacked Out: Government Secrecy in the Information Age (Cambridge University Press, 2008). For the 2012 figure
4. see Open Society Justice Initiative, "Access to Information Laws" Overview and Statutory Goals," http://right2info.org/access-to-information-laws/access-to-information-laws-overview-and-statutory, accessed 9 January 2013).
5. For more information about the Open Government Partnership, see: http://www.opengovpartnership.org/.
6. See, for example, Tom Tietenberg and David Wheeler, "Empowering the Community: Information Strategies for Pollution Control." Frontiers of Environmental Economics (2000): 85-120
7. Yeling Tan. Transparency without Democracy: The Unexpected Effects of China's Environmental Disclosure Policy," Governance: An International Journal of Policy, Administration, and Institutions (forthcoming, 2013).
8. Obama Administration smart disclosure policy from Sunstein memo.
9. Kristen Zgoba, Philip Witt, et al., "Megan's Law: Assessing the Practical and Monetary Efficacy." US Department of Justice Washington, DC, 2008.
10. "Map: Where Are the Gun Permits in Your Neighborhood?" Journal News (22 December 2012), http://www.lohud.com/interactive/article/20121223/NEWS01/121221011/MapWhere-gun-permits-your-neighborhood-?nclick_check=1, accessed 14 February 2013.
11. Finland and Sweden had older versions of rights to information.
12. For a description of freedom of information laws, see Roberts, Blacked Out.
13. See Roberts, Blacked Out, and "Access to Information Laws and Statutory Goals," http://right2info.org/access-to-information-laws/access-to-information-laws-overview-and-statutory#_ftnref7, accessed 26 June 2012.
14. Helen Darbishire, Proactive Transparency: The Future of the Right to Information? A Review of Standards, Challenges, and Opportunities, Communication for Governance and Accountability Program, World Bank, Washington, DC (2010)
15. See Peter R. Orzag, Director, Office of Management and Budget. "Open Government Directive" (9 December 2009). http://www.whitehouse.gov/open/documents/open-government-directive, accessed 27 June 2012.
16. The Obama Administration's Open Government Directive, provides that "each agency shall identify and publish online in an open format at least three high-value data sets" and that "agencies should publish information online in an open format that can be retrieved, downloaded, indexed, and searched by commonly used web search applications. An open format is one that is platform independent, machine readable."
17. Francisca Rojas, Recovery Act Transparency: Learning from States' Experience (Washington, DC: IBM Center for the Business of Government, 2012). http://www.businessofgovernment.org/sites/default/files/Recovery%20Act%20Transparency.pdf, accessed 29 July, 2012).
18. Archon Fung and David Weil, "Open Government, Open Society" in D. Lathrop and L. Ruma, eds., Open Government: Collaboration, Transparency, and Participation in Practice (New York: O'Reilly Media, 2010): 105-114.
19. President Barack Obama, 9 February 2009, Transcript.
20. American National Election Studies, The ANES Guide to Public Opinion and Electoral Behavior (University of Michigan, Center for Political Studies).
21. Archon Fung, Mary Graham, and David Weil, Full Disclosure.
22. The Sunlight Foundation's central mission is to develop transparency as an antidote to improper power, money, and influence.
23. Rob Jenkins and Anne Marie Goetz, "Accounts and Accountability: Theoretical Implications of the Right-to-Information Movement in India," Third World Quarterly 20, no. 3 (1999): 603-22.
24. See Francisca Rojas, Recovery Act Transparency.
25. See, for example, Ulrich Beck, World Risk Society (Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 1999).
26. See, for example, Mary Graham, Democracy by Disclosure: The Rise of Technopopulism (Washington, DC: Governance Institute/Brookings Institution Press, 2002)
27. James T. Hamilton, "Pollution as News: Media and Stock Market Reactions to the Toxics Released Inventory Data," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 28, no. 1 (1995): 98-113
28. Archon Fung and Dara O'Rourke, "Reinventing Environmental Regulation From the Grassroots Up: Explaining and Expanding the Success of the Toxics Release Inventory," Environmental Management 25, no. 2 (2000): 115-27.
29. Dennis F. Thompson, "Democratic Secrecy," Political Science Quarterly 114, no. 2 (1999): 181-93.
30. Anne Fowler, Nicki N. Gamble, et al., "Talking With the Enemy," Boston Globe (28 January 2001), sec. Focus.
31. This discussion draws upon the action cycle in Fung, Graham, and Weil, Full Disclosure, chap. 4.
32. Ginger Z. Jin and Phillip Leslie, "The Effect of Information on Product Quality: Evidence From Restaurant Hygiene Grade Cards," The Quarterly Journal of Economics 118, no. 2 (2003): 409-51.
33. See Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein, Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008) and
34. Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein, "Libertarian Paternalism," The American Economic Review 93, no. 2 (2003).
35. Michael M Grynbaum, "New York Plans to Ban Sale of Big Sizes of Sugary Drinks," New York Times (31 May 2012), A1.
36. Sunlight Foundation website: http://www.sunlightfoundation.com/, accessed 29 July 2012.
37. See, for example: http://www.opensecrets.org/bigpicture/reelect.php.
38. This discussion is drawn from Fung, Graham, and Weil, Full Disclosure, 122-24.
39. David Weil, "Crafting a Progressive Workplace Regulatory Policy: Why Enforcement Matters," Comparative Labor Law and Policy Journal 28 (2007): 132-33.
40. Janice Fine and Jennifer Gordon, "Strengthening Labor Standards Enforcement Through Partnerships With Workers' Organizations," Politics & Society 38, no. 4 (2010): 552-85.
41. See Linda T. Kohn, Janet M. Corrigan, and Molla S. Donaldson, eds., To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System (Washington, DC: Institute of Medicine Committee on Quality Health Care in America, National Academy, 2000).
42. See, for example, Marcia Angell, The Truth About Drug Companies: How They Deceive Us and What to Do About It (New York: Random, House, 2005)
43. Marcia Angell, "Drug Companies & Doctors: A Story of Corruption," The New York Review of Books 56, no. 1 (15 January 2009): 15.
44. Lawrence Lessig, "Democracy After Citizens United," Boston Review (September/October 2010).
45. Bruce A. Ackerman, Anne Alstott, et al., Redesigning Distribution: Basic Income and Stakeholder Grants as Alternative Cornerstones for a More Egalitarian Capitalism (London, New York: Verso, 2006).
46. Archon Fung and Erik Olin Wright, eds., Deepening Democracy: Institutional Innovations in Empowered Participatory Governance (London, New York: Verso, 2003).