What Went Wrong? The Relationship Between Transparency, Accountability, and Corruption

Abstract

Transparency is nowadays one of the most keenly touted words. It figures as a universal remedy against many of democratic maladies: dissatisfaction and lack of legitimacy with decision making, corruption, distrust towards institutions. Open government data are central to the global anti-corruption agenda as well as they open new possibilities for researchers in this field. In general, transparency is a key attribute that facilitates public accountability and enhances control over public representatives and public officials. Often it seems that transparency operates as a panacea however the existing studies dealing with the effect of transparency show rather mixed results. This panel is interested in transparency and its relation with accountability and its effect on corruption. It aims to deepen the understanding of this concept, its types and operationalisation, as well as conditions for its effective implementation. We are looking for theoretical as well as empirical papers (comparative case studies, and quantitative analysis) that deal with (but not only): - Different conceptions and types (passive and pro-active) of transparency and their impact on accountability and corruption - Transparency at the sub-national level (local, regional) - Determinants of government transparency and conditions for effective transparency - Use of ICT and new technologies for enhancing transparency and their effect on corruption - The adverse impact of transparency (use of transparency as a political tool)

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