Transparency Reforms: Theory and Practice

Abstract

The experience of Mexico’s 2002 transparency reform sheds light on the challenge of translating the promise of legal reform into more open government in practice. An innovative new agency that serves as an interface between citizens and the executive branch of government has demonstrated an uneven but significant capacity to encourage institutional responsiveness. A ‘‘culture of transparency’’ is emerging in both state and society, although the contribution of Mexico’s transparency discourse and law to public accountability remains uncertain and contested.Freedom of information, government secrecy, Mexico, transparency, Latin American Studies, Models and Methods