The right to know : transparency for an open world

Excessive secrecy corrodes democracy, facilitates corruption, and undermines good public policymaking.

But keeping a lid on military strategies, personal data, and trade secrets is also vital to the public interest.

This book shows when and how transparency serves the public interest in governance, business regulation, environmental protection, and national security.

It describes how countries such as India, China, Nigeria, and those in central Europe have struggled to overcome entrenched secrecy and establish effective disclosure policies.

Around the world, governments and corporations are battling with citizens and one another over growing demands to submit their secrets to public scrutiny.

The important lessons in this volume and its accessible style make it a critical companion for policymakers, executives, and activists, as well as scholars.