IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cog/poango/v9y2021i1p221-225.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Editorial: Access or Excess? Redefining the Boundaries of Transparency in the EU’s Decision-Making

Author

Listed:
  • Camille Kelbel

    (European School of Political and Social Sciences, Lille Catholic University, France)

  • Axel Marx

    (Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies, University of Leuven, Belgium)

  • Julien Navarro

    (ETHICS EA 7446, Lille Catholic University, France)

Abstract

Over the last decades, transparency has featured prominently among the European Union’s (EU) efforts to democratize and legitimize its governance. This shift toward transparency has taken many forms and, as the contributions to this thematic issue show, these different forms have evolved significantly over time. Yet, initiatives to enhance transparency have often been blamed for limiting the efficiency of the decision-making process or leading to suboptimal policy outcomes. Consequently, the debate has shifted to whether transparency would be excessive in that it would undermine the EU’s capacity to deliver through political arrangements. This editorial presents this transparency–efficiency dilemma, which the different contributions to this thematic issue analyse further.

Suggested Citation

  • Camille Kelbel & Axel Marx & Julien Navarro, 2021. "Editorial: Access or Excess? Redefining the Boundaries of Transparency in the EU’s Decision-Making," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(1), pages 221-225.
    • Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v9:y:2021:i:1:p:221-225
    DOI: 10.17645/pag.v9i1.4291
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/4291
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.17645/pag.v9i1.4291?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stéphanie Novak, 2013. "The Silence of Ministers: Consensus and Blame Avoidance in the Council of the European Union," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(6), pages 1091-1107, November.
    2. Vincent Caby & Lise Frehen, 2021. "How to Produce and Measure Throughput Legitimacy? Lessons from a Systematic Literature Review," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(1), pages 226-236.
    3. Emanuele Rebasti, 2021. "Return to De Capitani: The EU Legislative Process between Transparency and Effectiveness," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(1), pages 296-299.
    4. Benjamin Bodson, 2021. "To What Extent Can the CJEU Contribute to Increasing the EU Legislative Process’ Transparency?," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(1), pages 272-280.
    5. Dirk De Bièvre & Patricia Garcia-Duran & Leif Johan Eliasson & Oriol Costa, 2020. "Editorial: Politicization of EU Trade Policy Across Time and Space," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(1), pages 239-242.
    6. Vincent Caby & Lise Frehen, 2021. "How to Produce and Measure Throughput Legitimacy? Lessons from a Systematic Literature Review," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(1), pages 226-236.
    7. Maarten Hillebrandt, 2021. "EU Transparency as ‘Documents’: Still Fit for Purpose?," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(1), pages 292-295.
    8. Maarten Hillebrandt, 2021. "EU Transparency as ‘Documents’: Still Fit for Purpose?," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(1), pages 292-295.
    9. Vivien A. Schmidt, 2013. "Democracy and Legitimacy in the European Union Revisited: Input, Output and ‘Throughput’," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 61(1), pages 2-22, March.
    10. Axel Marx & Guillaume Van der Loo, 2021. "Transparency in EU Trade Policy: A Comprehensive Assessment of Current Achievements," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(1), pages 261-271.
    11. William Dinan, 2021. "Lobbying Transparency: The Limits of EU Monitory Democracy," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(1), pages 237-247.
    12. Emanuele Rebasti, 2021. "Return to De Capitani: The EU Legislative Process between Transparency and Effectiveness," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(1), pages 296-299.
    13. Dirk De Bièvre & Patricia Garcia-Duran & Leif Johan Eliasson & Oriol Costa, 2020. "Editorial: Politicization of EU Trade Policy Across Time and Space," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(1), pages 239-242.
    14. Axel Marx & Guillaume Van der Loo, 2021. "Transparency in EU Trade Policy: A Comprehensive Assessment of Current Achievements," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(1), pages 261-271.
    15. Benjamin Bodson, 2021. "To What Extent Can the CJEU Contribute to Increasing the EU Legislative Process’ Transparency?," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(1), pages 272-280.
    16. William Dinan, 2021. "Lobbying Transparency: The Limits of EU Monitory Democracy," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(1), pages 237-247.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Camille Kelbel & Axel Marx & Julien Navarro, 2021. "Editorial: Access or Excess? Redefining the Boundaries of Transparency in the EU’s Decision-Making," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(1), pages 221-225.
    2. Anke Moerland & Clara Weinhardt, 2020. "Politicisation ‘Reversed’: EU Free Trade Negotiations with West Africa and the Caribbean," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(1), pages 266-276.
    3. María J. García, 2023. "Implementation of EU Trade Agreements Under an Assertive, Open, and Sustainable Trade Policy," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 11(4), pages 212-222.
    4. Maarten Hillebrandt, 2017. "Transparency as a Platform for Institutional Politics: The Case of the Council of the European Union," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 5(3), pages 62-74.
    5. Christoph Engel & Luigi Mittone & Azzurra Morreale, 2024. "Outcomes or participation? Experimentally testing competing sources of legitimacy for taxation," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 62(2), pages 563-583, April.
    6. Isuru Koswatte & Chandrika Fernando, 2022. "Policy Development for Crisis Management in the Context of Sri Lanka," Managing Global Transitions, University of Primorska, Faculty of Management Koper, vol. 20(3 (Fall)), pages 295-327.
    7. John R. Moodie & Viktor Salenius & Michael Kull, 2022. "From impact assessments towards proactive citizen engagement in EU cohesion policy," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(5), pages 1113-1132, October.
    8. Christine Hackenesch & Julian Bergmann & Jan Orbie, 2021. "Development Policy under Fire? The Politicization of European External Relations," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(1), pages 3-19, January.
    9. Onna Malou van den Broek, 2024. "How Political Actors Co‐Construct CSR and its Effect on Firms' Political Access: A Discursive Institutionalist View," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(2), pages 595-626, March.
    10. Christoph Klika, 2015. "The Implementation of the REACH Authorisation Procedure on Chemical Substances of Concern: What Kind of Legitimacy?," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 3(1), pages 128-138.
    11. Vincent Caby & Lise Frehen, 2021. "How to Produce and Measure Throughput Legitimacy? Lessons from a Systematic Literature Review," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(1), pages 226-236.
    12. Lechler, Marie, 2019. "Employment shocks and anti-EU sentiment," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 266-295.
    13. Sébastien Chailleux, 2020. "Making the subsurface political: How enhanced oil recovery techniques reshaped the energy transition," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 38(4), pages 733-750, June.
    14. Gumbrell McCormick, Rebecca & Hyman, Richard, 2018. "Democracy in trade unions, democracy through trade unions?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 89230, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    15. Hottegindre, Géraldine & Loison, Marie-Claire & Belze, Loïc, 2024. "Dynamics of influence within the audit regulatory space: Role-playing and the rise of cynicism," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    16. Albin Olausson, 2020. "Legitimacy of uncertain policy work: Exploring values in local economic development projects," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 35(5), pages 440-459, August.
    17. Daniel Finke, 2017. "Underneath the culture of consensus: Transparency, credible commitments and voting in the Council of Ministers," European Union Politics, , vol. 18(3), pages 339-361, September.
    18. Begg, Iain & Bongardt, Annette & Nicolaïdis, Kalypso & Torres, Francisco, 2015. "EMU and sustainable integration," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 65243, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    19. Maarten Hillebrandt, 2021. "Access to Environmental Information in the EU: A Great Policy No‐One Needs?," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(5), pages 1051-1068, September.
    20. Yilmaz, Ahmet & Bi̇li̇m, Nazım Serdar, 2024. "The role of land values in land policies: The case of Turkish land readjustment," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v9:y:2021:i:1:p:221-225. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: António Vieira or IT Department (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cogitatiopress.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.