This book explores the implementation of the UK's FOI law under Tony Blair, showing how the radical policy was weakened by compromises and clandestine agreements before reaching the statute book, ...though it went on to be controversial and disruptive nonetheless.
The UK has a fragmented, partial and weak system of lobbying regulation. The system creates a self-reinforcing cycle of 'exposure' and worsening public attitudes. In order to make the case for reform ...and indicate possible paths, this article reviews the system's faults and weaknesses and then analyses how the lack of political will for reform in Westminster has contributed to a transparency and integrity regime which falls below international standards. Finally, it examines how this cycle can be broken. While the UK lobbying law needs reform, we must look beyond the letter of regulation, taking into account the levels of use and political support, as well as the transparency and ethics ecosystem in which lobbying sits. Only by improvements to all of these areas can there be the possibility of stronger, more positive feedback loops, which can shift behaviour and, ultimately, attitudes.
How well has the UK FOI Act worked in practice now that it has been in force for 4
years? This article discusses how to measure the performance of FOI regimes. It presents the evidence on the ...performance of FOI in the UK measured against comparative data from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and Ireland, countries with access to information legislation and similar political systems. On a range of measures, the UK Act is found to have performed reasonably well, but it also suffers from problems common to all FOI regimes. The article concludes with some observations on what makes for a successful FOI regime, and how to measure it.
Fact Checking and Information in the Age of Covid Seaton, Jean; Sippitt, Amy; Worthy, Ben
The Political quarterly (London. 1930),
July–September 2020, 2020-07-00, 20200701, Letnik:
91, Številka:
3
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
The Covid‐19 pandemic has revealed and accelerated an information crisis as well as a health one. What we discover about Covid 19, how it spreads, to whom and why and how best to mitigate it—all ...depend on information. The essays in this special section, which this article introduces, explore the importance of information and the fundamental role of fact checkers in understanding how information flows, why mistakes are made, and how to counteract them. Fact checking as an idea and a practice emerged in the early twenty‐first century, developed as a positive beacon to counteract a growing sense that information could no longer be trusted. Now, more than a decade after its creation, fact checking sits within a far more complex and chaotic media context, and its expertise and understanding has never been so important. We need to understand what fact checkers do because they are grappling with how to tether us to reality.
This article examines the democratic impact of the UK coalition government's Transparency Agenda, focusing on the publication of all local government spending over £500 by councils in England. It ...looks at whether the new data have driven increased democratic accountability, public participation, and information transmission. The evidence suggests that the local government spending data have driven some accountability. However, rather than forging new ‘performance regimes’, creating ‘armchair auditors’, or bringing mass use and involvement, the publication creates a further element of political disruption. Assessment of the use and impact of the new spending data finds it is more complex, more unpredictable, and more political than the rhetoric around Open Data indicates. The danger is that the gap between aims and impact invites disappointment from supporters.
Research into the operation of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (UK) which came into force January 2005 - impact - extent to which objectives have been met - conclusion that it has met its core ...objectives but has not improved decision-making, and public trust and understanding - key issues for the future.
This article argues that the extent to which political office-holders can effectively attain and wield authority is a function of the stock of 'leadership capital'. Drawing on the concept of ...political capital, the article defines leadership capital as aggregate authority composed of three dimensions: skills, relations and reputation of a leader. Leadership capital ebbs and flows over time within a trajectory of acquisition, expenditure and inevitable depreciation. The article presents a Leadership Capital Index (LCI) that systematically maps out the three broad areas combining concrete measures with interpretive aspects. This can be used as a tool for systematically tracking and comparing the political fortunes of leaders in a way that is both more nuanced and robust than exclusive reliance on the latest approval ratings. An illustrative case study of Tony Blair is used to demonstrate the LCI. The article concludes by discerning several promising paths for future development of the LCI.
This article examines the impact of Britain's Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2000 on British central government. The article identifies six objectives for FOI in the United Kingdom and then ...examines to what extent FOI has met them, briefly comparing the United Kingdom with similar legislation in Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, and Canada. It concludes that FOI has achieved the core objectives of increasing transparency and accountability, though the latter only in particular circumstances, but not the four secondary objectives: improved decision‐making by government, improved public understanding, increased participation, and trust in government. This is not because the Act has “failed” but because the objectives were overly ambitious and FOI is shaped by the political environment in which it is placed.
In September 2022, Elizabeth Truss became the third Prime Minister in a row to take office directly as a result of a party leadership election. My study of takeovers between 1916 and 2016 found they ...have a shorter time in office than those who are elected, because they inherit deep crisis and divided parties. They also face the dilemma of whether, and when, to call a general election.
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