The Openness Revolution: The Rise of a Global Movement for Freedom of Information
Author(s)
Blanton, Thomas S.
Abstract
History will probably call the 10 years from the collapse of the Soviet Union to the destruction of the World Trade Center twin towers the ‘Decade of Openness’. This is the period when social movements around the world used the opportunity to demand more open, democratic, responsive governments. During this decade, countries ranging from Japan to Bulgaria, Ireland to South Africa, and Thailand to the United Kingdom, enacted formal statutes guaranteeing their citizens’ right of access to government information. Today, some 45 countries boast formal laws guaranteeing the right to information. However, the ultimate challenge for the freedom of information movement is the cultural and psychological change that has to take place within government administrations and within citizens before true freedom of information occurs.
