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Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/2445/221713
What Do Citizens Understand by Transparency? The Punitive Component of Transparency
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This work sheds light on the determinants of citizens’ conception of transparency. Based on theoretical analysis and empirical evidence from focus groups and citizen surveys, the results confirm that citizens with lower levels of institutional trust view transparency as a policy for controlling governments. The causal hypothesis of transparency policies assumes that their fundamental goal is to increase citizen trust in the functioning of political institutions. However, if willingness to control and low prior trust are found to be determinants of citizens’ understanding of transparency, the explanations for the origins of transparency policies may vary, opening up new, less optimistic avenues for interpreting the actual effects of transparency on citizens.
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MEDIR TEJADO, Lluís, MAGRE FERRAN, Jaume and PANO, Esther. What Do Citizens Understand by Transparency? The Punitive Component of Transparency. Revista Española de Investigaciones Sociologicas. 2025. Vol. 191, num. 61-78. ISSN 0210-5233. [consulted: 18 of June of 2026]. Available at: https://hdl.handle.net/2445/221713