Freedom of Information

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura L. Stein ◽  
Lindita Camaj
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Public Information ◽  
Freedom Of Information ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
Individual Country ◽  
Ample Evidence

Freedom of information (FOI; also known as right to information and access to information) laws around the world establish rights and procedures around access to public information. Normative assumptions examine what’s behind FOI legislation, including rationales stemming from human and political rights frameworks, participatory democratic theory, and transparency and accountability initiatives. Although the freedom of information concept first arose as part of 18th-century enlightenment thinking, recent FOI law took shape in the mid-20th century, influenced by post–World War II human rights treaties, incentives provided by transnational organizations and funders, and individual country support for access to government information. Today, the majority of the world’s countries have FOI laws, most of which were adopted after 1990. FOI laws commonly address who can request information, who must provide information, what information is accessible, what information must be proactively disclosed, and what information is exempted from the law. FOI laws also establish procedural rules around information requests, including mandated response times for requests, appeals processes for denied requests, penalties for improperly withholding information, processes fees, and government reports on the law’s usage. Only a small percentage of people make FOI requests in most nations. Although it varies from country to country, requests from specific groups, including private individuals, commercial businesses, journalists, and nongovernmental organizations, often predominate. FOI requests may be political, professional, or personal in nature, although many FOI laws prohibit governments from asking about or evaluating the reasons for an information request. The ability of FOI laws to provide effective access to information depends on several factors. These include how the laws are written, public awareness of FOI, the cooperation and compliance of government agencies and institutions, and broader political and social conditions affecting FOI implementation and use. Scholars have measured the effects of FOI laws in both quantitative and qualitative terms. While quantitative data yield a picture of who uses FOI laws and how frequently, qualitative and anecdotal data provide ample evidence that such laws have had a positive impact on individuals’ abilities to obtain and use public information. Finally, FOI laws are necessary, but not sufficient, mechanisms for producing more accountable governments. They are unlikely to accomplish government reform on their own, but they can help expose and reform democratic deficits and push governments toward broader democratic reforms.

scholarly journals Freedom of Information and Citizens’ Perception in Albania

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 212-219
Author(s):  
Ardita Shehaj
Keyword(s):  
Good Governance ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Public Information ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Freedom Of Information ◽  
Citizen Education ◽  
Information Law ◽  
Constitutional Right ◽  
Right To Information ◽  
The Right

Abstract Transparency and the right to information are among the most important components of good governance, strong and stable democracy, citizen’s participation and the fight against corruption. The right to information is a constitutional right that is guaranteed not only by freedom of information law but also from the Albanian constitution. This legal framework is ranked 6th in the world and guarantees not only citizens right to access public information but also obliges institutions to proactively disclose information. Beside the fact that the Albanian legal framework is a very good one, it is very important to know citizens perception regarding the necessity of this right. For this reason, a survey was conducted and the data show that citizen education and their contact with the law are not enough for the proper implementation of this law. Public awareness is needed not only to explain how to exercise the right to access information but especially to explain the importance of this law in the fight against corruption.

Access to Information under the Nigerian Freedom of Information Act, 2011: Challenges to Implementation and the Rhetoric of Radical Change

2019 ◽  
Vol 63 (3) ◽  
pp. 435-461
Author(s):  
Uchechukwu Nwoke
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Public Information ◽  
Radical Change ◽  
Freedom Of Information ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
Freedom Of Information Act ◽  
Public Governance ◽  
The Right ◽  
Right Of Access

AbstractInformation is essential for the functioning of modern societies. Access to information denotes the right of citizens to obtain information regarding how they are governed. In 2011, Nigeria enacted the Freedom of Information Act, to ensure openness and transparency in public governance. This article evaluates the extent to which the legislation has strengthened the right of access to information in Nigeria. Through analysis of the provisions of the act and some decided cases, the article argues that challenges, both in the act's provisions and in its enforcement by the courts, have resulted in a “blunted” law that lacks the capacity to satisfy the people's expectations on the right of access to public information. Drawing on the experience of other jurisdictions where similar laws are operative (notably South Africa and India), the article suggests ways through which the implementation of the act could be made more effective.

scholarly journals Seeking Out Non-Public Information: Sell-Side Analysts and the Freedom of Information Act

2019 ◽  
Vol 95 (1) ◽  
pp. 233-257 ◽  
Author(s):  
April Klein ◽  
Tao Li ◽  
Bobo Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Stock Returns ◽  
Public Information ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Freedom Of Information ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
Freedom Of Information Act ◽  
Consensus Recommendation ◽  
Difference In Differences ◽  
Device Applications ◽  
Gain Access

ABSTRACTA number of sell-side healthcare analysts gain access to information outside the purview of management through Freedom of Information Act requests to the Food and Drug Administration for records on factory inspections, complaints, and drug and medical device applications. Using a difference-in-differences methodology, we find that buy (sell) recommendations and upgrades (downgrades) earn higher (lower) stock returns over the year following the receipt of FDA records. We also examine the type of information revealed in FDA factory inspection reports, and find that analysts are less likely to downgrade and are less pessimistic in their recommendations than the consensus recommendation when the information contained in the FDA report is not particularly severe. Our findings are consistent with a subset of analysts utilizing non-public information channels independent of management to gain value-relevant information about their covered firms.

Access to information legislation as a means to achieve transparency in Ghanaian governance

IFLA Journal ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 175-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cletus D. Kuunifaa
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Public Information ◽  
Freedom Of Information ◽  
Gear Up ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
Implementation Challenges ◽  
The Public ◽  
Background Context ◽  
Similar Legislation

Access to information and transparency are considered a vaccine for ensuring good governance and countries must gear up for this vaccine to ensure accountability and prevent corruption. This paper probes the anticipated implementation challenges of the freedom-of-information (FOI) law in Jamaica, and the lessons Ghana stands to learn to improve on its FOI bill, currently at a deliberative stage. The lack of transparency in government or the public sector as a result of lack of access to governmental or public information will be tackled in this study. After describing the background, context, framework and methodology of the study, the paper presents findings, makes a comparative analysis, and provides recommendations especially for Ghana, which is still in the process of passing similar legislation.

The Film World’s Cooperative Store: Institutions and Films of the 1930s and 1940s

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Claire Thomson
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Meat Products ◽  
Public Information ◽  
Early History ◽  
World War ◽  
International Context ◽  
German Occupation ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact

This chapter traces the early history of state-sponsored informational filmmaking in Denmark, emphasising its organisation as a ‘cooperative’ of organisations and government agencies. After an account of the establishment and early development of the agency Dansk Kulturfilm in the 1930s, the chapter considers two of its earliest productions, both process films documenting the manufacture of bricks and meat products. The broader context of documentary in Denmark is fleshed out with an account of the production and reception of Poul Henningsen’s seminal film Danmark (1935), and the international context is accounted for with an overview of the development of state-supported filmmaking in the UK, Italy and Germany. Developments in the funding and output of Dansk Kulturfilm up to World War II are outlined, followed by an account of the impact of the German Occupation of Denmark on domestic informational film. The establishment of the Danish Government Film Committee or Ministeriernes Filmudvalg kick-started aprofessionalisation of state-sponsored filmmaking, and two wartime public information films are briefly analysed as examples of its early output. The chapter concludes with an account of the relations between the Danish Resistance and an emerging generation of documentarists.

Presidential Privilege and the Freedom of Information Act

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin M. Baron
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Public Information ◽  
Executive Branch ◽  
Executive Power ◽  
Power Dynamics ◽  
Freedom Of Information ◽  
Freedom Of Information Act ◽  
Contemporary Politics ◽  
Government Secrecy

Executive privilege (EP) as a political tool has created a grey area of constitutional power between the legislative and executive branches. By focusing on the post-WWII political usage of executive privilege, this research utilizes a social learning perspective to examine the power dynamics between Congress and the president when it comes to government secrecy and public information. Social learning provides the framework to understand how the Cold War's creation of the modern American security state led to a paradigm shift in the executive branch. This shift altered the politics of the presidency and impacted relations with Congress through extensive use of EP and denial of congressional requests for information. When viewed through a social learning lens, the institutional politics surrounding the development of the Freedom of Information Act is intricately entwined with EP as a political power struggle of action-reaction between the executive and legislative branches. Using extensive archival research, this historical analysis examines the politics surrounding the modern use of executive privilege from Truman through Nixon as an action-reaction of checks on power from the president and Congress, where each learns and responds based on the others previous actions. The use of executive privilege led to the Freedom of Information Act showing how policy can serve as a congressional check on executive power, and how the politics surrounding this issue influence contemporary politics.

REFORMASI BIROKRASI DITINJAU DARI ASPEK PELAYANAN PUBLIK & KETERBUKAAN INFORMASI PUBLIK

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-71
Author(s):  
Firman .
Keyword(s):  
Public Service ◽  
Public Services ◽  
Public Information ◽  
Quality Of Services ◽  
Freedom Of Information ◽  
Quality Service ◽  
Reform Agenda ◽  
Bureaucratic Reform

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mereformasi birokrasi dalam aspek pelayanan publik dan kebebasan informasi. Rendahnya kualitas pelayanan dan kebebasan informasi yang telah diselenggarakan di birokrasi membuat beberapa masalah dalam mencapai kualitas pelayanan yang baik. Peraturan tentang pelayanan publik harus menjadi acuan yang dapat dimaksimalkan dengan baik oleh regulator ketika diimplementasikan. Hal ini membuat pelayanan publik menjadi rumit, panjang dan mahal, Hal ini juga yg menjadi pemicu penyalahgunaan dan korupsi di berbagai tingkat pemerintahan. Ditambah dengan cara berpikir birokrasi yang tidak membuat masyarakat sebagai aktor yang harus dilayani. Agenda reformasi birokrasi juga cenderung tidak memiliki orientasi yang jelas dalam berbagai masalah birokrasi terutama dalam kinerja birokrasi Kata Kunci :  Birokrasi, Pelayanan Publik, Keterbukaan Informasi Publik.This study purposes to bureaucratic reform in terms of aspects of public services and freedom of information. Low quality of services and freedom of information that has been held in the bureaucracy make some troubles in attaining a good quality service. The regulations concerning public services should become a reference that can be maximized well by the regulator in the execution. This made public services being complicated, long and expensive, this also triggers an abuse and corruption in various levels of government. Coupled with the manner of thinking of the bureaucracy that does not make the community as an actor that must be served. Bureaucracy reform agenda also tends to not have orientation that clearly in complete various bureaucratic problems primarily in the performance of bureaucracy Keywords :   Bureaucracy, Public Service, Transparency of Public Information.

Canada at Peace and Soldiers at War: Canadian U.N. Soldiers in Korea, Egypt, and Vietnam

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bronwyn Jaques
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Home Front ◽  
World War ◽  
Military Conflicts ◽  
High Regard ◽  
Canadian Military ◽  
The Cold War

In recent years, Canadian peacekeeping and UN involvement has assumed a place of high regard, reverence, and veneration, often at the expense of Canada’s military past. While its glorification is in many ways justified, the mythology surrounding Canada’s peacekeeping role has compelled many Canadians to view Canada solely as a peacekeeping nation. As a result, peacekeeping has become the “touchstone of our identity.” This mythology distorts the reality of Canadian military action to the point where Canadian veterans of NATO conflicts are often forgotten and it ignores the fact that many of the first peacekeepers left Canada “virtually unnoticed,” without the recognition and support of their nation. The mythology of peacekeeping misrepresents Canadian military conflicts and ignores that, in spite of the characterization of peacekeepers as nonviolent and unbiased actors, the majority of them were first and foremost Canadian soldiers, many of whom veterans of World War II. For the soldiers who came of age on the battlefields of Europe, the role of peacekeeping was a frustrating and politically charged experience, whereby they held no power and they felt they made very little positive impact. Despite the virtually universal glorification and celebration of peacekeepers in recent years, investigation of the “Cold War Home Front” demonstrates the difficulties faced by Canadian NATO soldiers, U.N. peacekeepers and their families in a society that wanted to move beyond the years of struggle, pain and sacrifice in war time and had little sympathy for the men and women who ‘chose’ to leave their families to serve in wars their nation was not fighting.

scholarly journals Lifelong posttraumatic stress disorder: evidence from aging Holocaust survivors

2000 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-62 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Posttraumatic Stress ◽  
Stress Disorder ◽  
Holocaust Survivors ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
Ample Evidence ◽  
Diagnostic And Statistical Manual ◽  
World War Ii Veterans ◽  
Axis I

Despite the fact that 50 years have passed since the Nazi regime and the Holocaust the psychic sequelae are far from being overcome. The majority of Holocaust survivors and World War II veterans still list their experiences as the "most significant stressors" of their lives. The literature provides ample evidence that posttraumatic stress disorder among survivors persists into old age. However, there is still a need to define the differences in frequency, clinical presentation, severity, and comorbid conditions among aging Holocaust survivors. Age at the time of trauma, cumulative lifetime stress, and physical illness are reported to have a positive association with more severe posttraumatic symptomatology. The presence of comorbid Axis i psychiatric disorders (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual [DSIVI]), has been the focus of research by our group, demonstrating that their interaction with earlier trauma leads to a course of chronic, debilitating disease. Despite reactivation of traumatic symptoms during aging and continuous mental suffering, the majority of Holocaust survivors show good instrumental coping and preserved functioning.

scholarly journals The Right to Public Information. Selected Interpretation Doubts in the Doctrine and Jurisprudence of Administrative Courts

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 129
Author(s):  
Dominik J. Kościuk ◽  
Justyna Kulikowska-Kulesza
Keyword(s):  
Public Information ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
Information Bulletin ◽  
The Public ◽  
Disclosure Of Information ◽  
Disclosure Rules ◽  
Administrative Courts ◽  
The Right ◽  
Made In

<p>The provisions of the Act on Access to Public Information regulate, among others, the subjective and objective scope of the right to public information, reasons for restricting access to information, procedure and form of disclosure, rules for creating and publishing information in the Public Information Bulletin, costs of activities leading to the disclosure of information and the establishment of complaint proceedings in the event of refusal to provide the public information requested. Therefore, it is worth to pay attention to several problems arising from the analysis of statutory provisions and the practical consequences of applying the Act of 6 September 2001 on Access to Public Information. The current, extremely extensive, output of doctrine and jurisprudence allows for a fairly “efficient” summary of the considerations made in both literature and judicial and administrative case law.</p>

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