Why Political Integrity Data Matters: Insights from the Global Data Barometer

This analysis of the Global Data Barometer political integrity thematic cluster was compiled by Renzo Falla Lopez (Lead, Data and Analytics) 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.

Data on political integrity is essential to understanding how public decisions are made. Specifically, the data shines a light on who influences the government—who officials listen to when shaping laws and policies, who pays for political campaigns, and who benefits from political decisions. This information, when coupled with strong public oversight mechanisms, can help to ensure that the government serves citizens rather than the other way around. For example, data on the finances of senior public officials can alert the public to potential conflicts of interestA key part of anti-corruption involves preventing or revealing conflicts of interest — when a public official is in a position to use public office for personal or private gain. Technical specificat... or cases of illicit enrichment. Similarly, data on lobbyists is critical to ensure that public officials are serving voters, and not the highest bidders.

This data is especially powerful when combined with other datasets. For example, when combined with information on public procurementTransparency in the procurement process can help combat corruption and waste that plagues a significant portion of public procurement budgets globally. Technical specifications: Commitments that aim t... More, including who is awarded public contracts, the data can help to detect kickbacks and self-dealing. When combined with information on company beneficial owners—the people who ultimately own, control, or benefit from corporate structures—the data can reveal the role of shell companies in politics, which are often used to mask the beneficiaries of corruption and illicit financial flows.

In short, political integrity data is critical for building a healthy data ecosystem that promotes fair, inclusive, and effective political systems. When put in the hands of civil society watchdogs, journalists, and government oversight bodies, this data can help to protect democracies from corruption and undue influence, ensuring that public resources are directed to the many, not the privileged few.

Gaps, Progress, and Priorities: What the GDB Reveals About Political Integrity Data

The second edition of the Global Data Barometer (GDB) underscores that much work remains in collecting and publishing data on political integrity. For example, many countries still do not publish information about the assets, liabilities, and finances of senior government officials. This is the case even among countries that are members of the Open Government Partnership (OGP), which requires basic rules around asset declarations as part of its criteria for membership. This represents a critical data gap.

In many cases, the lack of available data appears to be linked to the absence of strong frameworks requiring data collection and disclosure. For example, very few countries collect—much less disclose—any sort of information around lobbyists, such as who they represent, which public officials they meet with, and how much money they contribute. Yet only a handful of countries have regulations in place that define lobbyists, regulate their activity, and require collecting information about them. Establishing and strengthening these frameworks is therefore an important next step for many countries—and the GDB data reveals exactly which.

The second edition of the GDB also provides a critical insight that the first edition could not: it highlights countries that have improved over time. Specifically, this version of the GDB shows that several countries are newly publishing data in core areas such as the implementation of right to informationThe legal right to request information from the government allows the public to follow government decision-making, participate in ensuring better decisions, and hold the government accountable. Techni... systems and political party donations. This information on improvers is essential to recognizing strong performance, encouraging further reforms, and incentivizing others to follow suit.

Ultimately, while the GDB data points to an urgent need for more and higher-quality political integrity data, it also helps to enable reforms in this area—by spotlighting specific policy gaps, identifying which countries are already making progress, and highlighting where more action is needed.

Building Partnerships for Political Integrity Reforms

Access to higher-quality, up-to-date political integrity data is essential for understanding which policies to advance and where. To make this happen, an important next step for countries is to strengthen and leverage partnerships. Disclosure alone is not enough for political integrity data to achieve impact. Also necessary are networks of people and institutions working together—such as the media, oversight bodies, the private sectorGovernments are working to open private sector practices as well — including through beneficial ownership transparency, open contracting, and regulating environmental standards. Technical specificat... More, and civil society organizations.

Partnerships are critical for several reasons. For example, involving a variety of stakeholders can help to overcome vested interests that impede political integrity reform. Building coalitions of reformers also helps to ensure lasting change. As more people become invested in reforms, it becomes more difficult to undo initiatives after political transitions or moments of stronger opposition.

OGP is one example of a platform through which reformers can advance these initiatives. Government and civil society working together to co-create and implement reforms is at the heart of the OGP model. These reforms are included in action plans that are monitored by OGP’s Independent Reporting Mechanism. To date, reformers have advanced hundreds of open data initiatives through OGP, including specifically in the area of political integrity. For example, Malawi is currently working on implementing the country’s Political Parties Act (2018), which requires political parties to report their finances to the government. The government is setting up a new Registrar of Political Parties to manage this process.

A newer avenue for reform is the Open Gov Challenge, through which any public sector institution in an OGP country—across all branches and levels of government—can submit commitments to make their government more open and accountable, including via political integrity reforms. Already, dozens of governments at both the national and local levels are implementing Challenge reforms. For example, Chile is implementing a National Public Integrity Strategy that covers access to information requests, lobbying, and political party finance, among other areas. Similarly, Mexico is implementing a cross-government National Anti-Corruption Policy that will advance several areas of political integrity, including lobbyingLobbying transparency allows the public to ensure that there is diversity of participation and contribution to public decision-making. Technical specifications: Policies and actions affecting lobbying.... Moving forward, more countries must follow suit to make political integrity the standard, not the exception.