Definition
Transparency, be it as a term, concept, and value or as a norm, is omnipresent nowadays in most areas of life: not only in international and domestic politics as well as in the economic and legal fields, civil society, but also in science, communications, arts, and ethics. Commonly, “the right and means to examine the process of decision-making is known as transparency” (Wikipedia, 18.11.2019). In this entry, transparency is analyzed from an instrumental perspective, with wider implications for “good governance,” as a means that allows the “principal” – voter, shareholder, consumer, civil society, etc. – to hold the “agent” – government, management, producer, lobbyists, etc. – accountable. In that sense, transparency serves accountability: a key feature of modern democracies and market economies. We behave differently – more responsibly – if we know whatever we do will be subjected to scrutiny by forces beyond our own control.
In Florini’s (2007) terms, the principal is the...
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Marschall, M. (2022). Transparency. In: List, R.A., Anheier, H.K., Toepler, S. (eds) International Encyclopedia of Civil Society. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99675-2_13-1
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