ABSTRACT
Changing transparency relations — who or what is exposed to penetrating scrutiny to whom for whose purpose — can have revolutionary implications in society. These are ignored by those official bodies that keep calling for more transparency in many areas, including some under their own control, and for less decision making behind closed doors. Other participants in the public debate, such as nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) and protest groups, are not naive about these implications. When they shadow international meetings from Seattle to Singapore, and call for greater transparency in Davos, Washington, Okinawa, and Prague or wherever the world’s most powerful meet, they know that changing transparency relations is not just a matter of procedure but of substance. This is the first point of this chapter.
