ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the complex political applications of the term and to dampen claims about the good to be achieved by greater statistical transparency alone. Political transparency ranges from elements of statistical transparency, such as a quick and clean vote count, to procedures for establishing political legitimacy. In the context of political economy, transparency has been linked to reliable incentives or explicit constraints making the fiscal and monetary authorities, in particular, behave in a manner that is sustainable intertemporally. Publicly held corporations are required to issue releases as soon as they become aware of actual or impending adverse material change in their business condition. Glasnost was a program of making government operations and decisions transparent and to give them legitimacy through democratic forms of participation. Linking transparency to social progress, and lack of transparency to corruption, a Transparency International Initiative on Corruption currently is being debated in international fora.
