‘Many vested interests benefit from a lack of open government’

In the first of a series of interviews with speakers and attendees at the Open Government PartnershipThe Open Government Partnership (OGP) is a multi-stakeholder initiative focused on improving government transparency, ensuring opportunities for citizen participation in public matters, and strengthen... More (OGP) summit 2013, we talk to Professor Jonathan Fox, of the school of international service, American University, Washington.

He will moderate a session in which the founding eight OGP countries will present their two-year national action plans as well as reflect on their first progress report from the OGP’s independent reporting mechanism. The OGP was launched in 2011, and is aimed at making governments more transparent and accountable.

What does open government mean to you?

Open governments can enable effective civil society participation and oversight by providing citizens with user-centred information about the public sector’s activities, performance and decision-processes.

What do you hope to get out of the Open Government Partnership summit 2013?

I look forward to learning about the remarkable diversity and depth of open government innovations and campaigns around the world.

Tell us about your current research on international open government reforms

I am a member of the technical panel of the OGP’s independent reporting mechanism. We work with national researchers to document progress towards their governments’ OGP action plans, and just released the first eight country reports.

I also work with Mexican public interest groups that are working to bolster civil society capacity to monitor government rural development programmes, at national, state and local levels.

Do you have any examples of how open government policies or reforms could have a positive impact in Mexico or South America?

For example, the public debate over mining would benefit greatly from timely public access to reliable environmental and social impact assessments, as well as much more disclosure of who gets the revenues.

How can transparency and accountability encourage civil society participation and social change?

One key challenge is to strengthen the link between transparency and accountability. When revelations of corruption actually embolden the application of the rule of law and lead to sanctions, those tangible results can energize further civil society engagement in the fight against corruption.

What are the main barriers to greater transparency and accountability worldwide?

The many vested interests that currently benefit from opacity.