Towards a Sociology of Institutional Transparency: Openness, Deception and the Problem of Public Trust

Sociology ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 416-430 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Moore
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Public Trust ◽  
The State ◽  
Open Government ◽  
Liberal Democracies ◽  
Online Access ◽  
Late Modern ◽  
Opening Up ◽  
Sector Data

Transparency has become the watchword of 21st-century liberal democracies. It refers to a project of opening up the state by providing online access to public sector data. This article puts forward a sociological critique of the transparency agenda and the purported relationship between institutional openness and public trust. Drawing upon Simmel’s work, the article argues that open government initiatives routinely prize visibility over intelligibility and ignore the communicative basis of trust. The result is a non-reciprocal form of openness that obscures more than it reveals. In making this point the article suggests that transparency embodies the ethos of a now-discredited mode of what Ezrahi calls ‘instrumental politics’, reliant on the idea that the state constitutes a ‘domain of plain public facts’. The article examines how alternative mechanisms for achieving government openness might better respond to the distinctive needs of citizens living in late modern societies.

scholarly journals The state of heritage and cultural property policing in England & Wales, France and Italy

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 441-460 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Kerr
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Cultural Knowledge ◽  
The State ◽  
Cultural Property ◽  
The Public ◽  
The World ◽  
Cultural Economies

Presenting a large threat to irreplaceable heritage, property, cultural knowledge and cultural economies across the world, heritage and cultural property crimes offer case studies through which to consider the challenges, choices and practices that shape 21st-century policing. This article uses empirical research conducted in England & Wales, France and Italy to examine heritage and cultural property policing. It considers the threat before investigating three crucial questions. First, who is involved in this policing? Second, how are they involved in this policing? Third, why are they involved? This last question is the most important and is central to the article as it examines why, in an era of severe economic challenges for the governments in the case studies, the public sector would choose to lead policing.

Recovery.gov

2010 ◽  
pp. 174-189 ◽  
Author(s):  
Franz Foltz ◽  
Rudy Pugliese ◽  
Paul Ferber
Keyword(s):  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
Public Trust ◽  
The State ◽  
Open Government ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Major Goal ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The Government

President Barak Obama’s directive on transparency and open government, and the creation of the Website Recovery.gov, would seem to be concrete examples of the predictions of cyber advocates that computer-mediated communication and the Internet will change the nature of democracy and make citizens more participatory. A major goal is to try to increase the public’s trust in their government. An examination of Recovery.gov, however, reveals it to be not very interactive and less than fully transparent. While it may be praised for providing information, it falls far short of the vision of cyber advocates. The state sites associated with Recovery.gov do a slightly better job by putting a personal face to the oversight of the recovery. Overall, the sites tend to provide only a limited view into the workings of the government and have a long way to go before they increase public trust in the government.

Placing the State in the Cloud

2021 ◽  
pp. 421-440
Author(s):  
Niamh Gleeson ◽  
Ian Walden
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Public Procurement ◽  
The State ◽  
Cloud Environment ◽  
Data Governance ◽  
Legal Requirements ◽  
Cloud Adoption ◽  
Unique Data ◽  
Sector Data ◽  
The Eu

This chapter highlights issues of data governance and public procurement. It first examines some of the unique data governance considerations applicable to public sector decisions about cloud adoption; while acknowledging that data governance is only one element in a decision to move to cloud. The chapter then identifies potential obstacles in the EU procurement framework that is not adapted to, or creates de facto barriers to, public sector cloud adoption and considers how these barriers could be addressed. The first potential legal barrier to public sector take-up of cloud concerns public sector data governance and the legal requirements concerning the security of, and access to, public sector data. The second potential legal barrier concerns EU public procurement legislation and the extent to which it is not adapted to the cloud environment.

scholarly journals Open Government and (Linked) (Open) (Government) (Data)

2012 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 265-278 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Philipp Geiger ◽  
Jörn Von Lucke
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Open Data ◽  
Environmental Data ◽  
Open Government ◽  
Weather Data ◽  
Free Access ◽  
Data Movement ◽  
Open Government Data ◽  
Government Data ◽  
Sector Data

This article explores the opening and the free usage of stored public sector data, supplied by state. In the age of Open Government and Open Data it’s not enough just to put data online. It should be rather weighed out whether, how and which supplied public sector data can be published. Open Data are defined as stored data which could be made accessible in a public interest without any restrictions for usage and distribution. These Open Data can possibly be statistics, geo data, maps, plans, environmental data and weather data in addition to materials of the parliaments, ministries and authorities. The preparation and the free access to existing data permit varied approaches to the reuse of data, discussed in the article. In addition, impulses can be given for Open Government – the opening of state and administration, to more transparency, participation and collaboration as well as to innovation and business development. The Open Data movement tries to get to the bottom of current publication processes in the public sector which could be formed even more friendly to citizens and enterprises.

scholarly journals Burden of mental health disability in Kerala: A secondary time trend analysis from 2002 to 2018

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
J Joseph ◽  
H Sankar ◽  
D Nambiar
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Mental Retardation ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Human Resources ◽  
Mental Health Disorders ◽  
The State ◽  
The Public ◽  
Health Infrastructure ◽  
Health Disorders

Abstract The fourth target of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 advocates for the promotion of mental health and wellbeing. The Indian state of Kerala is recognized for its gains in health and development but has substantial burden of mental health ailments. Historical analysis is vital to understand the pattern of mental health morbidity. The current study focusses on comparable estimates available from three largescale population-based surveys in India to explore trends in prevalence of mental health disorders over the years and map resources and infrastructure available for mental health care in Kerala. We undertook a secondary analysis of national demographic surveys from 2002 to 2018 which reported information on mental health and availability of health infrastructure and human resources. Data were collated and descriptive analyses were conducted. We compared the national and state level estimates over the years to study the trend in the prevalence of mental health disability. The prevalence of mental retardation and intellectual disability in Kerala increased from 194 per hundred thousand persons in 2002 to 300 per hundred thousand persons in 2018, two times higher to the national average. The prevalence of mental illness increased from 272 per hundred thousand people to 400 per hundred thousand people in sixteen years. The prevalence was higher among males (statistical significance was not indicated) in mental illness and mental retardation. 2018 data showed that the public sector had 0.01 hospitals and 5.53 beds per hundred thousand persons available for mental health treatment. Results showed a substantial increase in mental health illness over the 16-year study period that has affected males and females, as well as all social classes of the state. The current health infrastructure and human resources in the public sector of the state are inadequate to meet the current burden of the problem and to ensure universal access to care for its population. Key messages The trend in prevalence of mental health disorders in the state is increasing across the years. There is a mismatch between the extend of the problem and resources available in public sector.

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