Description:
Is transparency a necessary condition to build and restore citizen and civil society trust in governance and democracy?
Throughout Europe, there is a growing demand for effective forms of citizen engagement and decentralisation in policy-making to increase trust and engage increasingly diverse populations.
This volume addresses the relationship between trust and transparency in the context of multi-level governance. Drawing on fieldwork from the UK, France and Germany, this comparative analysis examines different efforts to build trust between key actors involved in decision-making at the sub-national level. It outlines the challenges of delivering this agenda and explores the paradox that trust might require transparency, yet in some instances transparency may undermine trust.
Brief description: Ian Stafford is Senior Lecturer in Politics at Cardiff University, Wales.
Review Quotes: "...an instructive contribution to the investigation of the complex and at times confused dynamic of trust and transparency." Markus Kasseckert, Zeitschrift für Politik