Abstract
Open government has long been regarded as a pareto-efficient policy – after all, who could be against such compelling policy objectives as transparency, accountability, citizen engagement and integrity. This paper addresses why an authoritarian state would want to adopt a policy of open government, which may first seem counter-intuitive, and tracks its outworking by examining several facets of the policy in practice. The research uncovers evidence of insidious bureaucratic obstruction and an implementation deficit counter-posed with an outward-facing political agenda to gain international respectability. The result is ‘half-open’ government in which the more benign elements have been adopted but the vested interests of government and business elites remain largely unaffected.
Highlights
Open government has been defined as ‘the extent to which citizens can monitor and influence government processes through access to government information and decision making arenas’ (Meijer et al, 2012: 11)
There is research on: the social and economic value of opening government data to the public, researchers, stakeholder’s bodies, etc. (Janssen et al, 2012); the specific role which electronic government plays in the promotion of open government (Harrison et al, 2012); the role which social media can play in promoting greater openness, engagement and participation between government and citizens (Lee and Kwak, 2012); and, more direct forms of citizen engagement which move beyond the ICT components of open government (Evans and Campos, 2013)
This being the case, why would bureaucrats bother to develop various laws and policy instruments to actualize open government if their intentions were merely symbolic implementation? It may be that they began with a genuine desire to implement the will of the President on open government but when they realized how its full import would threaten their interests, they thwarted its implementation
Summary
Open government has been defined as ‘the extent to which citizens can monitor and influence government processes through access to government information and decision making arenas’ (Meijer et al, 2012: 11). Beyond the level of definition and principles that underpin open government, the literature is eclectic and tends to focus on individual components of the broader agenda. Using new technologies, government should be more transparent and provide information to citizens on what they are doing. Government should be participatory by engaging with citizens and, as a result, promote government effectiveness and improvement in the quality of the decision making process. Government should collaborate across all levels of government and with non-profits and business (Wirtz and Birkmeyer, 2015)
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