The Law
Government Transparency and Public Access
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12000411 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Gbemende Johnson (0000-0003-3191-9645, corresponding author), Gbemende E Johnson |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 51 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 705-724 |
| Publication date | 2021-07-17 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Presidential Studies Quarterly (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0360-4918 • E-ISSN: 1741-5705 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/psq.12731 |
| OpenAlex | W3186229886 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 37 |
National governments regularly balance concerns of transparency and access to information against the need for information security and confidentiality. Increased government transparency can inform the public of the reasons underlying government decisions and can promote the participation of outside parties and actors. However, increased transparency can uncover wrongdoing that can lead to embarrassment or legal action against government actors. This project explores the implementation of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and analyzes how politicization affects aggregate federal executive branch transparency. Utilizing FOIA initial disposition data across the Bush II and Obama administrations, I find a complex relationship between politicization, as indicated by aggregate appointee presence within an agency, and FOIA requests outcomes. I find that increased politicization is associated with a higher proportion of responses, noting that agencies were not able to locate responsive FOIA records. However, I find less evidence that politicization affects the aggregate amount of information released to requesters from retrieved records
Accountability · Agency (philosophy · Business · Confidentiality · Embarrassment · Freedom of information · Government (linguistics · Open government · Political science · Public disclosure · Sociology · Transparency (behavior · Wrongdoing · Corruption and Economic Development · Law · Legal and Constitutional Studies · Public Administration · Public Policy and Administration Research
Blacked Out
The Politics of Presidential Appointments
Digital reference service
FOI in transition
FoIA in the age of “Open. Gov”
Federal freedom of information policy
Executive Order 13233 Further Implementation of the Presidential Records Act
Appointee–Careerist Relations in the Presidential Transition of 2008‐2009
Striped Pants versus Fat Cats
A Snapshot of Foia Administration
Adjudicating Executive Privilege
Politicization and Expertise
The Political Origins of Transparency
Politicization and Responsiveness in Executive Agencies
Expert Opinion, Agency Characteristics, and Agency Preferences
Dismantling Democratic States
Federal employee unionization and presidential control of the bureaucracy
Agency Performance Challenges and Agency Politicization
The Consequences of Presidential Patronage for Federal Agency Performance
The Relationship Between Short-Term Political Appointments and Bureaucratic Performance
The Transparency President? The Obama Administration and Open Government
Does Transparency Inhibit Political Compromise
Slackers and Zealots
To Revoke or Not Revoke? The Political Determinants of Executive Order Longevity
Partisan Procurement
What Makes an Agency Independent
Descriptive and Substantive Representation in Congress
Political Appointments, Civil Service Systems, and Bureaucratic Competence
Presidents and Patronage
Political Appointees and the Competence of Federal Program Management
What Is Transparency
What To Do (and Not to Do) with Time-Series Cross-Section Data
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2023 - 2025 (3) |
| Highly cited | No |