Transparency talk among candidates for public office
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22414871 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Julia Trautendorfer (Johannes Kepler University of Linz, corresponding author), Cedric Antunes (Fundação Getulio Vargas), Gregory Michener (0000-0002-6648-8649, Fundação Getulio Vargas) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Pages | 1-29 |
| Publication date | 2026-07-14 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Local Government Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0300-3930 • E-ISSN: 1743-9388 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/03003930.2026.2699741 |
| OpenAlex | W7168278293 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 39 |
How common are invocations and promises of transparency and open government among candidates for municipal office? What factors drive ‘transparency talk’, and does this ‘talk’ translate into the ‘walk’ of transparency policy enactment? This study presents an inaugural mapping and descriptive analysis of transparency talk. Drawing on nearly 40,000 pledges from mayoral candidates across Brazil’s 5,571 municipalities, we analyse the effect of demographic, socioeconomic, and individual-level candidate variables on transparency talk. Our findings confirm many of the canonical findings on municipal transparency performance (e.g. the positive effect of larger municipalities), but also suggest that transparency talk: a) translates into the walk of policy enactment among elected candidates, b) is more common among younger candidates and well-educated females, and, c) has evolved from more generic talk (e.g. ‘transparency’) to more policy-specific language (e.g. access to information), even as specific language has grown at a slower pace.
Descriptive statistics · Open data · Open government · Public policy · E-Government and Public Services · Public Policy and Administration Research · Social Media and Politics
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Agenda setting
Influência dos aspectos socioeconômicos, financeiro-orçamentários e político-eleitorais na transparência dos governos locais
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E-government-enabled transparency
Explaining the transparency of local government websites through a political market framework
Exploring FOI publicity patterns
Local compliance with national transparency legislation
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Transparency and efficient management in local governments
Determinants of Local Governments’ Transparency in Times of Crisis
Transparency by Conformity
The Political Origins of Transparency
Policy Diffusion
Women’s political representation and transparency in local governance
Can better financial conditions lead to more fiscal transparency? Evidence from municipalities in California
Municipal Performance
Transparency's impact on the professionalization of government
Incentives for Organizational Participation
Policy Diffusion
The Mechanisms of Policy Diffusion
Identifying transparency
Post-Materialism in an Environment of Insecurity
| Highly cited | No |
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