Loading...
[Global corruption report 2003] Access to information
Pope, Jeremy
Pope, Jeremy
Author(s)
Contributor(s)
Keywords
GE Subjects
Collections
Files
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Online Access
Abstract
"Madison’s observation is as valid today as it was when he made it almost 200 years ago. Access to information is still a minefield across the world. As Madison noted, knowledge is power, and those who possess it have the power to rule. The concept is problematic enough in many industrialised countries, but it is particularly challenging where countries have been under forms of colonial rule – systems marked by a preoccupation with secrecy, with information of the most menial type being scrupulously guarded, and with accountability not to their peoples, but to remote metropolitan capitals. There was no element of trust. On regaining independence, these countries inherited administrative systems and officials obsessed with secrecy. The same holds true of the transition countries of Central and Eastern Europe, and those elsewhere emerging from various forms of dictatorship or feudalism. Sheltered by secrecy, corruption, repression and human rights abuse abounded – and trust was at zero. This climate persists in many countries, as recent events from Kazakhstan to Zimbabwe have made all too clear. In the former, the authorities have beaten outspoken journalists, while in the latter the Mugabe regime has crushed access to government information and a free press.1 An obsession with secrecy persists in leading industrial countries. Witness the absurd spectacle of Sweden being accused by the European Commission of breaching Community Law by making Commission documents available under legislation the Swedes have enjoyed for nearly 250 years.2 Even modest access proposals provoked a ‘bitterly fought and still controversial compromise’ in the European Parliament. 3 Meanwhile, in the United States (whose landmark freedom of information legislation has long been a world leader) the White House has sought to block public disclosure of its meetings with Enron and other energy industry officials – illustrating the fact that the struggle for information is, first and last, a struggle for accountability.
Note(s)
Topic
Type
Book chapter
Date
2003
Identifier
ISBN
1861974760
DOI
Copyright/License
With permission of the license/copyright holder