Resumen de Municipal transparency: moving beyond intrinsic value and the corruption antidote
Over 80% of respondents to the 2016 Catalan Anti-Fraud Office Barometer stated there is currently ‘a lot’ or ‘quite a lot’ of corruption in Catalonia, thereby evidencing an acute crime perception problem which can be linked to far-reaching consequences in areas such as trust in government or general trust in others. Municipal government is particularly salient to the issue as, on the one hand, it has been shown to suffer from criminogenic features that make it particularly propense to corrupt activity, while, on the other hand, it offers some of the characteristics necessary to implement effective, instrumental transparency which aims to foster accountability, citizen participation and good governance. The present paper analyses transparency literature and secondary data to establish: firstly, that current municipal efforts to merely comply with the Catalan Law 19/2014 on transparency, access to public information and good governance are often insufficient, and secondly, that the implementation of effective instrumental transparency is far from becoming a widespread reality. The paper shows that the reasons for the current shortfalls are numerous, including the misconception of transparency as an intrinsic value, a lack of resources or political will, as well as the inherent impediments present in the traditional organizational culture. However, progress is being made, and the paper concludes by examining some forms of innovative best practices and how adequate evaluation can show the path to follow and promote inter-administration knowledge sharing.
