Three Patterns in the Diffusion of Transparency Rules: Money, Guns and Human Rights

Abstract

As several scholars have noted, policies governing access to information can serve as powerful tools for regulation, including the regulation of governmental bodies by civil society and business actors. Indeed, the proliferation of transparency policies over the last decade is thought to herald a new era of governmental openness. The reality is more complex. In fact, the last decade has witnessed three distinct trends. The first is a diffusion of national right-to-information laws, which appears to follow the classical path of diffusion, driven by civil society organizations seeking to protect basic rights. A second trend is one of top-down diffusion, this time of policies inimical to transparency: the binding of governments to rules on handling of state secrets as a condition for intelligence or defense cooperation. A third trend is also one of top-down diffusion, in which institutions such as the IMF and WTO impose transparency requirements designed to promote conditions favorable to economic liberalization. The second and third of these trends are probably more powerful. The result is one in which the state is constrained to release information where this is desirable to promote liberalization; and left free to withhold information in areas where it is necessary for defense coordination.

Keywords: transparency, openness, right to information, secrecy, liberalization, national security, human rights