[open-government] Is the U.S. Backtracking on Political Finance Transparency as Others Move Forward? / Why and how does technology matter?

Thu Apr 11 19:58:34 UTC 2013

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Dear all (sorry for cross-posting),

Here are two blog posts from the Sunlight Foundation I’d love to draw your
attention to:

Is the U.S. Backtracking on Political Finance Transparency as Others Move
Forward?<http://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2013/04/03/is-the-u-s-backtracking-on-political-finance-transparency-as-others-move-forward/>

My colleague, Lisa Rosenberg returned from Croatia a few weeks ago, where
she was invited to speak about what works and what doesn’t in terms
disclosure of money in politics in the United States. In her recent blog
post, Lisa expressed surprise by the fact “that no one even raised the
issue of anonymity as a necessary condition for financial political
participation” which she considers a “stark and telling contrast to the
debate over dark money” in the US.

According to Lisa, “for those of us who work on political finance
transparency issues in the U.S., it is disheartening to have protect
against a system of clandestine influence buying while, at least to us, it
appears that parts of world where secrecy had been the norm are now moving
towards greater transparency. On the other hand, perhaps it is a matter of
perception. Do newer
democracies<http://www.transparency.hr/dokumenti/tekstovi/Shining_a_light_on_Political_Party_Financing_eng.pdf>look
at the U.S. as at least having a system of disclosure, however flawed?
In some countries, is the issue of political finance transparency so new
that any debate around the issue of anonymity is yet to come?”

For those of you exploring political finance transparency around the globe,
we’d love to start a dialogue. Please read her blog post here:
http://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2013/04/03/is-the-u-s-backtracking-on-political-finance-transparency-as-others-move-forward/and
share your experience with us!

______

Why and how does technology
matter?<http://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2013/04/09/why-and-how-does-technology-matter/>

In the meanwhile, I have shared some of my thoughts on the debate around
the effectiveness of technology in solving different kinds of complex
problems. Most of my thinking reflects the questions raised at an event
organized by the World Bank
Institute<http://opengovhub.org/blog/4/2013/ict-for-open-contracting-in-fragile-states>on
opening up contracts in fragile states and several ongoing
discussions.
Among other things, I argue that real change requires a healthy
transparency ecosystem where all the bits are equally important, that there
is no such thing as relevant or irrelevant data but certain priorities
within specific cultural, historical and political contexts and that
citizens as a homogenous group may not be the target group of all open
government projects.

Again, please read the post and let us know what you think!

http://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2013/04/09/why-and-how-does-technology-matter/

Best,
Júlia Keserű*

-- 
Júlia Keserű
International Program Coordinator

1818 N Street NW, Suite 300
Washington, DC 20036
(1) 202-742-1520 *280

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