Transparency in Local Governments: Patterns and Practices of Twenty-first Century

• Author: Redeemer Dornudo Yao Krah,Gerard Mertens
• Published date: 01 September 2020
• Date: 01 September 2020
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0160323X20970245
• Subject Matter: Reviews & Essays

Reviews & Essays

Transparency in Local

Governments: Patterns

and Practices of

Twenty-first Century

Redeemer Dornudo Yao Krah

1

and Gerard Mertens

1

Abstract

The study is a systematic literature review that assembles scientific knowledge in local government

transparency in the twenty-first Century. The study finds a remarkable growth in research on local

government transparency in the first nineteen years, particularly in Europe and North America.

Social, economic, political and institutional factors are found to account for this trend. In vogue

among local governments is the use of information technology to enhance transparency. The

pressure to become transparent largely comes from the passage of Freedom of Information Laws

and open data initiatives of governments.

Keywords

local government, transparency, information technology, open government, freedom of information

In democratic governance, premium is placed

on transparency in good governance as a boost

to public trust and participation of the citizens.

Recently, the notion of secrecy in public

administration is given way to the culture of

free unlimited access to information (Grimme-

likhuijsen et al. 2013). Transparency has

become a virtue in public management and

public policy making and according to Kim

and Lee (2012) transparency is an important

democratic value which a trustworthy, high-

performing and responsible government pur-

sues. Transparent conduct of government

reduces the information gaps between govern-

ment and the citizens (Kim and Lee 2012) and

enhances the perception of institutions

“responsiveness to citizens” actions. Its

absence diminishes citizens’ trust in adminis-

trative processes and actions as citizens feel

distant and often excluded from the governance

process (da Cruz et al. 2016).

Transparency is a “nebulous concept”

(Grimmelikhuijsen 2010, 9) that lacks gener-

ally accepted definition due to its increasing

popularity and varied usage among politicians,

academic and practitioners in diverse fields

(Meijer 2014; Oztoprak and Ruijer 2016). Gen-

erally, transparency connotes openness,

absence of opacity, and lifting of the veil of

1

Faculty of Management, Open University of the Nether-

lands, Heerlen, the Netherlands

Corresponding Author:

Redeemer Dornudo Yao Krah, Faculty of Management,

Open University of the Netherlands, 6401 DL Heerlen, the

Netherlands.

Email: dornkra@yahoo.com

State and Local GovernmentReview

2020, Vol. 52(3) 200-213

ªThe Author(s) 2020

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DOI: 10.1177/0160323X20970245

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