Open Government Partnership Research Articles

Transparency, participation, and accountability practices in open government: A comparative study

In a comparative national study addressing the fiscal domain, we explored relationships between socio-cultural, political, economic, and government conditions and concepts critical to open government, defined as (a) budget transparency (b) participation in budget processes, and (c) accountability information. We found that democracy, human capital, and budget document disclosures are consistently related to transparency, accountability, and the involvement of the Supreme Audit Authority with the public. E-participation and commitment to the Open Government Partnership are each related to particular measures of transparency and accountability. Gross domestic product was negatively related to particular measures of transparency and accountability. Only democracy was related to public participation in budget discussions with the executive, and that was a minimal effect.

Open Government as a Tool to Develop School Choice and School Performance: Analysis of Situation in Republic of Moldova

The Open Government Partnership is an international initiative, committing governments to its principles of transparency. This article examines how it can advance the topic of freedom of educational choice, as it emphasizes the importance of parents' involvement in the decision-making process at the school level. The article is based on the case study of Moldova, an Eastern European emerging country, where school choice is not yet a much discussed issue. The analysis shows that based on transparency, accountability, and citizen-engagement, policies advocated by the Open Government offer the possibility of establishing competitive and open schools, built on cooperation and performance.

The Open Government Partnership: what are the challenges and opportunities for New Zealand?

In November 2013 New Zealand signed up to the Open Government Partnership (OGP), which was established in 2011 and comprises 63 nations. The OGP operates as a partnership on two levels: nationally, as a partnership between governments and civil society organisations to effect reforms in various areas; and internationally between nations sharing ideas and good practice and collaborating in areas of transparency, integrity and public safety.

Building State Capacity for Inclusive Development: The Politics of Public Sector Reform

A capable state is essential for inclusive development, and throughout the developing world governments and international development agencies are seeking to build it through a multifaceted agenda of Public Sector Reform (PSR). This paper presents an analytical review of the PSR agenda, emphasizing the political contestation inherent to the development of state capacity, and argues for a more nuanced and politically-informed research agenda. We begin by examining the various definitions of state capacity that are commonly employed by researchers, and settle on bureaucratic capacity as the transversal precondition for policy implementation. State capacity so understood has two components, effectiveness and accountability, and two domains, internal and external. Their intersection generates four broad dimensions of reform: organizational rationality, administrative restraint, social embeddedness and political autonomy; and each dimension in turn is likely to exhibit a different pattern of political contestation due to the parallel incentives for patrimonialism, corruption, oligarchy, and capture. We use this analytical framework to categorise and examine the major components of the PSR agenda, assessing their rates of success or failure according to the available evidence: we find that the relative failure of the PSR agenda so far is due to its reliance on flawed assumptions about the administrative politics of state capacity. We then evaluate whether new models that try to bypass central bureaucracies are likely to encounter greater success; specifically, we review the Africa Governance Initiative, the Open Government Partnership, and the 'hybrid models' approach of the Africa Power and Politics Program, and argue that all of them will be forced to confront the same politics of state capacity in the end. We close the paper by outlining a set of tentative guidelines for future research at ESID and elsewhere, suggesting a greater focus on the role of elites, informal institutions, the legislature as a non-state component of state capacity, the distinction between transversal and sectoral approaches, and finally the modalities and objectives of external assistance.

Open Governments, Open Data: A New Lever for Transparency, Citizen Engagement, and Economic Growth

The international open data movement is beginning to have an impact on government policy, business strategy, and economic development. Roughly sixty countries in the Open Government Partnership have committed to principles that include releasing government data as open data—that is, free public data in forms that can be readily used. Hundreds of businesses are using open data to create jobs and build economic value. Up to now, however, most of this activity has taken place in developed countries, with the United States and United Kingdom in the lead. The use of open data faces more obstacles in developing countries, but has growing promise there, as well.

Open Government – A Long Way Ahead for Romania

Although the topic of OPEN Government isn’t quite as new, the citizens of the world seem not to have acknowledged the responsibility they share with the authorities in really implementing it. Thus some progress has been made, there is still a long way ahead with regard of the active participation of the citizens, on one hand and the mitigation of the still existing extensive state secrecy, on the other. Romania has committed to achieve the goals stated in the Open Government Partnership, but there are still many things to be considered. The main aspects analyzed in this paper are: fiscal transparency, access to information, Disclosures Related to Elected or Senior Public Officials and Citizens engagement.

Delimitar Gobierno Abierto para ampliar la Colaboración con una Sociedad más Abierta

The paper´s aim is delimit open government concept, such a way to enhance the collaboration between government and society. In the framework Open Government Partnership´s (OGP) international initiative, it´s relevant to rethinking transparency, accountability, public information access and civic participation, like articulate elements each other, which represent a straight collaboration with a society often more open. This open government´s elements, leads to a minimal definition that development an analysis to describe countries action plan´s, on basis of four dimensions: Institutional, Organizational, Relational and Technological.

Identifying transparency

Recent scholarship on transparency has been voluminous, and transparency policies continue to garner international adherents through global initiatives such as the Open Government Partnership. Yet extant scholarship has failed to address the empirical parameters for what constitutes 'transparency' and what does not. This lacuna gives way to misuses and abuses, jeopardizing the analytical utility of the term and the integrity of so-called 'transparency' policies. This article provides a framework and a vocabulary for identifying and evaluating transparency, which depends on two necessary and jointly sufficient conditions: the visibility of information, and its inferability --the ability to draw accurate conclusions from it. By disaggregating these two conditions for identifying transparency, this article provides a framework for the emerging research agenda on the quality of transparency.

El federalismo cooperativo como factor catalizador de un Gobierno Abierto

The paper aims at outlining a framework of analysis that substantiates the significance of collaboration among governments, under the assumption that a rigid system of competition tends to result in the splintering of public affair solutions in government agendas. Cooperative federalism, to the degree that it may produce intergovernmental relations, points towards a support of holistic solutions to demands written into the action plan that serves as a precondition to enrollment in the Open Government Partnership (ogp). The proposal presented by Mexican representatives during the June 2012 meeting in Brasilia, envisioning governmental aperture at the subnational and local levels, would have more possibilities of success if minimal bases for cooperative federalism that may serve to manage public affairs are set forth previously.

The social media innovation challenge in the public sector

The use of social media applications has been widely accepted in the U.S. government. Many of the social media strategies and day-to-day tactics have also been adopted around the world as part of local Open Government Initiatives and the worldwide Open Government Partnership. Nevertheless, the acceptance and broader adoption of sophisticated tactics that go beyond information and education paradigm such as true engagement or networking strategies are still in its infancy. Rapid diffusion is challenged by informal bottom-up experimentation that meets institutional and organizational challenges hindering innovative tactics. Going forward governments and bureaucratic organizations are also facing the challenge to show the impact of their social media interactions. Each of these challenges is discussed in this article and extraordinary examples, that are not widely adopted yet, are provided to show how government organizations can potentially overcome these challenges.

Nominations sought for extractive industries committee

U.S. secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced on 26 July the establishment of a national committee to guide U.S. implementation of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative. The Interior Department is seeking nominations of people interested in serving on the committee, which will be convened as a new federal advisory group. The initiative calls on governments to publicly disclose revenues from oil, gas, and mining assets and for companies to make disclosures about payments. U.S. president Barack Obama announced the commitment of the United States to participate in this initiative as part of the U.S. National Action Plan for the International Open Government Partnership.

U.S., Brazil Hold Ministerial Meetings on Open Government Partnership

U.S., Brazil Hold Ministerial Meetings on Open Government Partnership

Transparency and public participation: The Albanian case of Open Government Partnership

Increasing real public participation in governance and decision making is one of the greatest challenges of modern democracies as well as of these countries seeking to elevate their level of decision making and effective participation of public and citizenship in these processes. The widely dissemination and usage of communication technologies as well a greater pressure from the public for a greater accountability towards their governors, changes the shape and tools of governance, by changing initially the philosophy of and mindset of decision makers and policy maker as well. At the same time, this calls for a revolutionary way of powers distribution in governance processes by bringing more power in the hands of public, starting by an increased transparency and aiming a real and functional participation. The case of Albania, certify how policy makers good will and successful application of best practices, can accelerate democratic processes and increase resources for a better decision making and decision application as well. The paper makes a historic and political reconstruction of the OGP process and practices by projecting the effects and potential outcomes of this governance philosophy in the Albanian social tissue and set up, taking in consideration of the political system and the governance philosophy in Albania 2011-2012.