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Transforming Transparency into Trust: An Analysis of the European Commission’s E-Government and Citizen Trust
Get PDFTransparency and openness are given a new platform by the internet, allowing “government and citizens [to] more finely manage information” in an easier and cost effective way (Stiglitz, 1999). In our age of modernity and technological progress, this form of online governance, known as ‘e-government’, has been heralded by some as having the possibility of “revolutionaliz[ing] the relationships between citizens and governments” (Hinnant and Welch, 2002, p.1). In 2006, following the finding that “65% of respondents to the Commission’s public consultation on eGovernment [believe] that eDemocracy can help reduce Europe’s democratic deficit”, the European Commission launched its e-government action plan, trying to increase transparency via its website (European Commission, 2006, p.2). This objective was to be achieved by 2010, but it appears not to have been completely successful as indicated by the January 2011 Eurobarometer report, which reveals that only 44 percent of European citizens trust the European Commission (Eurobarometer, 2011a, p.41). This paper aims to address the European Commission’s problem as to the ways of how transparency through e-government can and should be used to enhance citizen trust – as a factor of democratic legitimacy – in the European Commission. Claiming that transparency through e-government in order to increase citizen trust in the European Commission cannot only involve the dissemination of information but rather has to be informed by other standards expected by citizens, this paper investigates factors which have to be present along with basic transparency so as to build up trust. Initially, three aspects of communication are proposed to play an important role in transforming transparency into trust. These are accessibility, interactivity and publicity.
Transparency and Development
Get PDFToday, many organisations in the development sector stress a link from transparency to “improved accountability, increased aid effectiveness and better value for money” (Beech, 2011, “Aid Transparency: The future of Aid is changing”). In particular, the Aid Transparency Movement, which emerged with the High Level Forum on Harmonization in 2003, is meant to improve the effectiveness of official aid. As this Movement and the first ‘Open Data for Development’ conference held in Amsterdam in May 2011 convey, the issue of transparency for development opens up a new sphere for critical thought on alternative approaches to development aid and on the conception of development as such. The development sector currently witnesses a momentum prone to change of aid practices triggered by the “new global standard” of what they call ‘aid transparency’ (ibid.). Aid Transparency is the presumed key to achieve aid effectiveness and correspondingly better development results. Moreover, some development workers suggest that aid transparency could revolutionize development in the sense of dissociating any negative perception of development and endow the concept with a positive connotation instead. Against this background, this article poses the question, does aid transparency really make aid more effective and revolutionize development
Conclusion
Get PDF If you search for ´transparency´ on an internet search engine, it will provide more than 87 million hits to choose from. By clicking through the results, a diverse variety of types of transparency can be found, ranging from governmental or state transparency to transparency in the financial sector to transparency in sports. While some hits provide state or corporate policies on transparency, others refer to organizations that push for increased openness of organizations. Transparency is a concept that can be applied to a broad variety of different situations and domains in our social, political and economic world, often making it difficult to grasp clearly defined conditions. Since transparency seemingly illustrates a concept with unparalleled possibilities of application, it was referred to as a ´buzzword´ throughout this volume. The contributions of this volume sought, however, to give more substance to the ‘buzzword’. In which fields of social life do matters of transparency come up? What specific role does it play? Do we understand it in an instrumental or consequential way? Who or what is at the focal point of transparency – individuals, public persons, institutions or professions? The answers to these questions, which seek to define the characteristics and criteria of transparency, and the expectations attached to the concept will differ from case to case. What is needed, therefore, is further refinement of what is actually meant when speaking about transparency. Such refinement is inevitably context-based. This is exactly what this volume aimed to do: it analyzes the concept of transparency within specific cases and attempts to show what implications it can have for individuals, politics, social media, international development aid and the pharmaceutical industry. In this regard, the approaches of our authors followed the rationale that transparency is not to be understood as a value in itself, but as instrumental in achieving specific objectives
Tactical Consumers: The re-appropriation of organic food labels in everyday practices
Get PDFIt is a vast array of product choices that presents itself to consumers every day. Consumers therefore need to develop criteria on which they can base their decisions. Such criteria are in turn influenced by many circumstances, amongst these the information received and processed by the shoppers. One aspect of such information, addressed towards the consumer, is the labelling of organic food. Displayed on the package of products that are found in the shelves of supermarkets and organic food stores, these labels are meant to function as guides of organic and thus more ethical, righteous or environmentally friendly purchase in the jungle of choices of products provided. But how do consumers really perceive these labels? This question has increased in relevance in recent time, both for researchers interested in ethical and political consumption, but also for the consumers themselves. It is them who are making and are (indirectly) asked to make the relevant decisions in their everyday practices of shopping. Their individual reflections on labelled and unlabelled organic foodstuffs are therefore of special interest to the analysis of contemporary consumption. What do consumers do with the information given to them? Are labels trusted, used and paid attention to? More clearly, the question must be asked: how do consumers give meaning to the labels and appropriate them into their daily shopping decisions? Due to the fact that grocery shopping is the kind of purchase that consumers engage in most often – many people do it almost daily – I chose this particular shopping activity as a focus of my research. The labels referred to in the following are thus organic labels of foodstuff
Conceptual Reflections on a cultural paradigm shift: The example of Fair Trade
Get PDFFair Trade is an alternative trading approach that emerged during the 1950s and attempts to establish fairer trading relations between rich and the poor countries, thus achieving a fairer distribution of wealth. Fair Trade as a label is defined by certain standards, such as minimum prices, in order to improve working and living conditions of underprivileged employees in Third World countries. When looking at the expansion rate of Fair Trade products, there seems to be a growing appreciation of the Fair Trade concept. This essay presents reflections on the question of how product labelling and changes of cultural paradigms are intertwined. On the one hand, I will discuss whether there has been a paradigm change within the Fair Trade movement itself. To that end it will examine the niche where Fair Trade first emerged as a political and cultural movement. Did Fair Trade standards that were part of the original paradigm change over the last few decades? On the other hand, this chapter is also concerned with the values that define the Fair Trade movement; fairness, solidarity and sustainability. I shall deal with the question of whether and how these values have become part of mainstream society. It is this ‘mainstreaming’ of Fair Trade, that is the base of the paradigm shift that I discuss here. Therefore this chapter aims at describing and analysing the character of a (cultural) paradigm shift in general and in the context of the Fair Trade movement. I base my argument mainly on sources from those engaged in Fair Trade (including interviews). The claims that I make about attitudes and practices of the consumers are thus of an indirect and somewhat hypothetical character. It will be left to future empirical research to substantiate these claims, and the framework that is proposed in this essay by more detailed consumer studies.
Personal Transparency in Perspective: The Impact of Social Networking Sites on the Recruitment Process
Get PDFThe “transparency trend” is hot for the summer of 2011. At least that is what they said in the fashion capitals of Milan, Paris, and London. In the new summer collections, sheer seethrough dresses reveal the beauties of the human body and leave little to the imagination. Architects too are attracted by the intriguing properties of transparent materials to create a new perception of space and boundaries, which challenges some traditional understandings of private living and daily work life. Whereas in the past, it was a Puritan statement to live without curtains at the windows, to show you had nothing to hide, today, the transparent way of life is often used to enable the owner to display their wealth and luxury. Institutions have increasingly followed this transparency trend in fashion and architecture by using glass for their buildings. Transparency is not only a fashion trend, but also a political challenge. Fashion and politics meet in the huge glass buildings of the European Union in Brussels and Strasbourg, which reflect the Union’s strategy to improve its democratic legitimacy; one of the main aims of the Lisbon Treaty (2009). In terms of adaption to this see-through trend, institutions are not only voluntarily moving towards greater transparency, they are being ambushed by those who believe that information is a public good, which should not be guarded by a few. By revealing “suppressed and censored injustices” (WikiLeaks, n.d.), WikiLeaks practices what some call “guerrilla transparency” (The Economist, 2010). When people think of transparency, the recent commotion caused by WikiLeaks’ publication of thousands of documents on nationally and internationally sensitive issues is at the forefront of their minds. This event has triggered a worldwide debate on the balance between state security and citizens’ right to know
Transparency and Trust - Mastering a Crisis Deliberatively
Get PDFIn this section I will analyse the relationship between governmental transparency and public trust. In doing so, I want to figure out under which circumstances transparency can lead to an increased trust in government. Answering these questions will be of utmost importance for the way we organise politics as a society. Do we want a clear distinction between governors and governed? Or do we rather wish a conception of politics in which every citizen can participate? Whether we decide for the first or the second of these options will in turn also determine our expectations with regard to transparency. Transparency is not a monolithic concept and it occurs in many different forms (cf. Heald, 2006). In this paper I will attempt to develop an understanding of transparency which is embedded in the framework of deliberative democracy (Held, 2006; Warren, 1999). This means that transparency cannot stop with the retrospective provision of governmental information. Indeed, policy-makers seem to have acknowledged the potential of expanded transparency. In an attempt to comply with the demands for increased transparency, governments have launched freedom of information legislations (Birkinshaw, 2006; Relly & Sabharwal, 2009). In 2005, the German government, too, has set up such a law. According to this act “[everyone] is entitled to official information from the authorities of the Federal Government” (Freedom of Information Act, 2005, art.1). However, the exceptions from this general rule included in the law prevent that the citizen enjoys transparency which enables him to better monitor governmental working. These exceptions comprise for instance drafts and working papers of governmental institutions. Jeannine Relly and Meghna Sabharwal conclude that freedom of information laws do not suffice to improve the public’s perception of transparency (Relly & Sabharwal, 2009). Further, this implies that the notion of transparency implicit in such pieces of legislation (i.e. retrospective delivery of information) does not encourage citizens to trust their government
Constructing environmental friendliness: The case of the German Blue Angel
Get PDFToday’s product market is rich in different product labelling schemes, ranging from fairtrade to various eco-labels on national and international levels. A few decades ago this was not yet the case; only very few labels existed. The very first eco-label was the German Blue Angel which was founded in 1978. It is by now one of the most commonly known eco-labels certifying environmentally friendly products in Germany and abroad. It initially started with only a few product categories however, the Blue Angel is currently being used by around 980 producers, 21 per cent of which are foreign suppliers. The label is borne by over 11,000 products including for instance, furniture, varnish, paint, electrical devices and paper (Der Blaue Engel, 2011). In contrast to existing studies, I want to take a more distanced social scientific approach by analysing the Blue Angel’s main characteristic, namely its environmental friendliness. We attribute environmental friendliness as the focal value to products labelled with the Blue Angel. This label certifies environmental friendliness as a profound and distinct indication of quality for all Blue Angel certified specific products; in contrast to unlabelled products, which are recognised as being less environmentally friendly. As I will show in this paper, such qualities were far from self-evident or clearly defined. Furthermore, the boundaries of what constitutes environmental friendliness have been the object of constant readjustment and sometimes even open conflict within this labelling system. With the historical approach I have taken, the processes through which environmental friendliness has been shaped during the development of this labelling system and how certain standards of environmental friendliness evolved will be analysed. I will attempt to answer the question of why a need for labelling arose at all and how the idea of environmental friendliness and the Blue Angel have developed over time
The art of recontextualisation: How firms make sense of the European ecolabel
Get PDF The globalisation of markets and gradual depletion of natural resources not only gave rise to fiercer competition, but also emphasised the need for sustainable production processes and business solutions (Golden, 2010, p. 10). Initially, legislators sought to tackle environmental issues by directly regulating the market through command-and-control instruments such as hard law, albeit with mixed success (Jordan et al., 2003, p. 562). The main criticism of command-and-control mechanisms lies in the fact that these often undermine a firm’s competitive advantage (p. 564). As a response, legislative instruments have taken on a more market-based character, developed as a result of negotiations between policy makers, scientific experts, non-governmental organisations (NGO) and firms. The soft-law approach is considered more effective as it better reflects the interest of a firm; however, its environmental benefits remain a matter of debate (Iraldo, Testa, Melis & Frey, 2011, p. 213). The European Union (EU), one of the leading economies in the world, adopted such a market-based policy instrument in shape of the EU ecolabel. The ecolabel was created as a voluntary scheme motivating firms to produce environmentally friendlier products and services (European Commission, 2011b). The label is awarded to a wide array of products, however, only if – after careful examination – they have met the ecological criteria agreed upon at the EU level (Locret & de Roo, 2004, p. 3). Besides the protection of the environment, ideally this approach also creates trust for the consumers and a competitive advantage for the firm (European Commission, 2011b). While at the EU level various stakeholders standardise criteria to ensure their widespread applicability for many economic sectors and products, the national competent authorities (NCAs) have to interpret the legislation in such a way as to ensure their practical use at the local level. Subsequently, firms that apply for the ecolabel have to re-interpret the legislation and adapt their resource selection, production, and distribution accordingly. This process – in this chapter referred to as the recontextualisation of standards – creates a tension between the European and the local level
Introduction: Toward a cultural analysis of labelling systems
Get PDFThe student papers that are published in this report probe the proliferation of product labels from a cultural science perspective, and thereby aim to contribute to a critical public debate on this development. Instead of seeing labels as conveyors of neutral technical information that provide consumers with a rational base for their market decisions, they seek to “open the black box” of labelling. What have been the guiding economic and political narratives through which labelling has been promoted and legitimised as a technology of market governance? Which institutions and actors have been involved in the process of labelling and how have they shaped the scope and content of labelling information? How do labels achieve and maintain trust among their target audiences? And finally, how do targeted firms as well as consumers “read” labels and integrate them into their own action repertoires and moral identities