ABSTRACT
This book questions the theoretical premises and practical applications of transparency, showing both the promises and perils of transparency in a methodologically innovative way and in a cross-section of policy instruments. It scrutinizes transparency from three perspectives - methodologically, theoretically, and empirically - both in the specific context of the EU but also in the wider context of modern society in which transparency is embraced as an almost unquestionable virtue. This book examines the ways in which transparency practices can make institutions visible and stands out for its methodological self-reflection: to fully understand the irresistible call for transparency in our governing institutions, we must reflect on our own relationship with it. This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of transparency studies, democratic legitimacy, global governance, governance law, EU studies and law and public policy more widely.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part I|90 pages
How to research transparency?
chapter 2|20 pages
Transparency as a critical research agenda
chapter 3|18 pages
What is the purpose of Regulation 1049/2001?
chapter 4|17 pages
Interpretive approaches in transparency studies
chapter 5|33 pages
Learning through rejection
part II|87 pages
Against transparency? Conceptualising the problematic sides of government openness
chapter 9|19 pages
Algorithms and the open society
part III|141 pages
From institutional manifesto to information society? New horizons in the EU's transparency agenda