Chapter Eight. The Struggle for Openness in the International Financial Institutions

Blanton, Thomas

doi:10.7312/flor14158-008

Cited by 21 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…Yet just as multilateral organizations have compelled governments to adopt transparency mechanisms, so too have citizens and politicians begun to seek greater transparency from their multilateral benefactors [54]. Transparency obligations are increasingly multi-directional.…”

Section: The Theoretical and Empirical Origins Of Transparencymentioning

confidence: 99%

Identifying transparency

Michener

Bersch

2013

165

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Recent scholarship on transparency has been voluminous, and transparency policies continue to garner international adherents through global initiatives such as the Open Government Partnership. Yet extant scholarship has failed to address the empirical parameters for what constitutes 'transparency' and what does not. This lacuna gives way to misuses and abuses, jeopardizing the analytical utility of the term and the integrity of so-called 'transparency' policies. This article provides a framework and a vocabulary for identifying and evaluating transparency, which depends on two necessary and jointly sufficient conditions: the visibility of information, and its inferability -the ability to draw accurate conclusions from it. By disaggregating these two conditions for identifying transparency, this article provides a framework for the emerging research agenda on the quality of transparency.

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Section: The Theoretical and Empirical Origins Of Transparencymentioning

confidence: 99%

Identifying transparency

Michener

Bersch

2013

165

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“…For example, each of the multilateral development banks now has formal policies on access to internal documentation. These reforms may have been prompted by a few different reasons: escalating pressure from civil society, such as public protest at the World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting in Seattle in 1999; a realization that allowing increased transparency could mitigate demands for more substantive organizational reforms, including the democratization of decision making; and an awareness that transparency also complemented the prevailing "Washington Consensus" agenda regarding good governance for World Bank and IMF recipient countries (Blanton 2007).…”

Section: Transparencymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Resource Curse and Transparency

Cater¹

2014

International Development

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Transparency-based policies are currently the principal approach to mitigating the resource curse in developing countries, particularly with respect to corruption and conflict. Policymaking often reflects conventional assumptions about the nature of the problem: the traditional financial opacity of the extractive industries enables illicit appropriation of resource rents, while correlations between natural resource dependency and intrastate conflict are explained through reference to combatant financing mechanisms. Accordingly, transparency has been widely adopted as an integral policy component, whether through financial regulation, commodity Charles Cater The Resource Curse and Transparency Chapter 23 Page 2 tracking, or resource interdiction. Policymaking has also been influenced by political and economic interests among states, international organizations, and transnational corporations. The available evidence suggests there is sufficient reason to critically reexamine the assumption that increased economic transparency necessarily translates into enhanced political accountability in developing countries. The mixed track record of transparency based policies suggests alternative and complementary approaches to escape the resource curse should also be considered.

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“…Florini’s (2007:5) definition of transparency emphasizes the proposed linkage between the provision of information and accountability: “the degree to which information is available to outsiders that enables them to have informed voice in decisions and/or to assess the decisions made by insiders.” In the 1990s and early 2000s, the exposure of government and corporate corruption (in both developing and developed country contexts) prompted calls for greater transparency. Evidence of a growing emphasis on transparency includes the proliferation of freedom of information laws (now in 70 countries), increasing investor demand for corporate account disclosures (spurred on by the Asian financial crisis and US corporate scandals), the prominence of Transparency International, and mounting pressure for multilateral organizations to end their opaque styles of operation (on the last, see Blanton 2007). Donor good governance programs latched onto transparency as a valuable tool for combating corruption, advancing accountability, and improving public financial management.…”

Section: Transparency’s Entrance Into the Oil Sector Discoursementioning

confidence: 99%

Reputational Concerns and the Emergence of Oil Sector Transparency as an International Norm

Gillies

2010

International Studies Quarterly

100

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This study argues that the reputational concerns of several high‐profile actors drove the emergence of oil sector transparency as an international norm. Thanks to successful advocacy campaigns, developing country oil sector operations began to pose increasing levels of reputational risk to Western governments, international institutions, and corporations. These actors responded to this scrutiny by facilitating the evolution of transparency into a widely cited oil sector “best practice.” However, the self‐interests of these actors also altered the course of the norm’s definition and institutionalization in ways which may constrain its eventual impact on industry behaviors. This study narrates the surprising and rapid spread of the transparency norm in developing country oil affairs, a process which suggests that reputational utility should be considered as a possible explanation for norm emergence.

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Chapter Eight. The Struggle for Openness in the International Financial Institutions

Cited by 21 publications

References 0 publications

Identifying transparency

Identifying transparency

The Resource Curse and Transparency

Reputational Concerns and the Emergence of Oil Sector Transparency as an International Norm

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