Transparency Power And Control

This book brings together academics and practitioners from a range of disciplines from more than twenty countries to reflect on the growing importance of transparency, power and control in our international community and how these concerns and ideas have been examined, used and interpreted in a range of national and international contexts. Contributors explore these issues from a range of overlapping concerns and perspectives, such as semiotic, sociolinguistic, psychological, philosophical, and visual in diverse socio-political, administrative, institutional, as well as legal contexts. The collection examines the ways in which 'actors' in our society - legislators, politicians, activists, and artists - have provoked public discourses to confront these issues.

This book tells the story of radical transparency in a datafied world. The analysis, grounded from past examples of novel forms of mediation, unearths radical change over time, from a trickle of paper-based leaks to the modern digital torrent.

Americans have long treated government accountability as a birthright. However, accountability is frequently tossed about in a rhetorically effective but substantively empty way. We often feel that those in government “work for us” and therefore must “answer to us,” but fail to grapple with the conditions under which we can really assess how accountable our government is. This is especially true with respect to matters of secrecy and transparency in government as, while we routinely voice support for transparency and accountability, we too often tolerate secrecy when associated with “national security.” The government plainly needs to keep some information secret, and there are ways to reconcile secrecy with accountability. In Reclaiming Accountability, unchecked secrecy is the primary concern as insufficient checking breeds unnecessary, even counterproductive, secrecy and is also deeply antithetical to accountability. Heidi Kitrosser shows how, for all of its influence, “presidentialism” badly misreads the Constitution. The book first explains presidentialism and its major component parts – “supremacy” and “unitary executive theory.” It then details how supremacy and unitary executive theory manifest themselves as arguments for a broad presidential power to control information. The descriptive elements lay the groundwork for Kitrosser's two normative arguments. The first is that the Constitution situates the presidency within a substantive accountability framework that entails substantial congressional and judicial leeway to impose and enforce external and internal checks on presidential power to foster transparency and accountability. And, closely related, the second argument is that supremacy and unitary executive theory misread the Constitution.

This book argues that transparency is a concept that has gained increasing currency and favour as an organizing principle and administrative goal in recent years. Calls for transparency have been directed towards states, markets, corporations and national political processes as well as towards large institutions such as the European Union. Focusing on empirically rich case studies, the contributors explore the ideas and practices of transparency in different contexts, encouraging a discussion of the many facets of the term and its strengths, ambiguities and limitations. They aim to shed light on the powerful global discourse and practices contained in the concept, and to fill a gap in the literature since few attempts have, until now, been made to examine the actual content and practice of transparency. Also discussed are the complex negotiations through which it is determined what should be displayed and what should remain hidden, the uses of power and control, and the processes through which transparency is, or is not, achieved. This analysis of the concepts, models and metaphors that guide and shape organizational, social and aesthetical practices today will provide a much-needed contribution to the literature for academics, researchers and students focusing on these areas.

Do open societies need transparent architecture? Does transparent architecture help make an open society? This book examines German culture's on-going relationship with Transparency, a relationship which culminates in the new Reichstag building.

Want to know what s buzzing with corporate citizenship? Look no further. This book shows why global corporate citizenship has been called the topic of the decade and why it matters to each of us, no matter where we live. It explains in plain English the major issues and ideas percolating in current research on the topic. Trust what you discover in the book. The list of contributors to Handbook of Research on Global Corporate Citizenship reads like a Who s Who of corporate citizenship research. Thomas Donaldson, University of Pennsylvania, US This is a unique and eclectic set of essays on a vitally important (but often neglected) topic. The editors are to be congratulated in assembling a distinguished group of scholars, who carefully and expertly guide the reader through the various facets of global corporate citizenship. This is a must read for anyone interested in the social ramifications of the globalization of business activity. John H. Dunning OBE, University of Reading, UK and Rutgers University, US Start with a fact large corporations wield enormous power in the contemporary, globalized economy. Then note the hopes and fears that this fact inspired the potential to harness the profit motive to social needs, but the fear that the profit motive can just as easily wreak havoc. And finally, bring together some leading scholars from around the world to discuss the matter and the result is a hugely impressive collection of essays on one of the burning issues of our time. This volume is definitive the necessary starting point for future debate. Paul S. Adler, University of Southern California, US This volume provides an extensive and comprehensive overview of current research and theory about why and how corporations should play a more active role in fulfilling their global citizenship obligations and responsibilities. Its contributors include many of the most important and influential scholars in the field of corporate social responsibility from both Europe and the US. An important strength of this volume is the diversity and breadth of the dimensions of corporate citizenship that it explores in depth. This volume provides an important resource to scholars, managers, and activists interested in promoting corporate citizenship. David Vogel, University of California, Berkeley, US The Handbook of Research on Global Corporate Citizenship identifies and fosters key interdisciplinary research on corporate citizenship and provides a framework for further academic debate on corporate responsibility in a global society. This exciting and important Handbook provides a unique forum to discuss the consequences of the social and political mandate of business firms and examines the implications of these consequences for the theory of the firm. Leading academics have been invited from various disciplines such as management studies, economics, sociology, legal studies and political science to evaluate the concept of corporate citizenship and to analyze the role of private business in global governance and the production of global public goods. The Handbook is structured in seven sections: theoretical perspectives on corporate citizenship contemporary issues and challenges of global business regulation actors and institutions of global business regulation disciplinary perspectives on corporate citizenship implications for management theory building critical perspectives on corporate citizenship conclusions. This Handbook will be a significant read for academics, postgraduate students and managers interested in the field of corporate citizenship, regulation and corporate responsibility across the social sciences.

This book offers a comprehensive, authoritative, and accessible introduction to journalistic transparency. Pulling from historical and theoretical perspectives, Transparency and Journalism explains the concept of transparency and its place in journalistic practice, offering a critical assessment of what transparency can and cannot offer to journalism. The author also reviews the key theoretical claims underlying transparency and how they have been researched in different parts of the world, ultimately proposing a communication model that can be used to study the concept of transparency across journalism research. Other topics discussed include the use of algorithmic forms of transparency, the limitations of the transparency myth, and suggestions for future avenues for research. Transparency and Journalism is an important resource for students and scholars in the field of journalism and media studies, as well as for journalists and researchers interested in delving into an ever-relevant topic for the field.

Using case studies from around the world, Transparency and the open society surveys the adoption of transparency globally, providing an essential framework for assessing its likely performance as a policy and the steps that can be taken to make it more effective.