Transparency as a public policy in Spain: some reflections

Abstract

Spain is suffering a deep economic, social and political crisis. From the governmental viewpoint, the key issue in this crisis is the erosion of political legitimacy. Looking for a solution to the “legitimacy problem” the public policy of transparency has been selected by the current Government as one of its strategic issues. Because of that, the Spanish government has developed a policy on transparency based on the use of the new ICTs and the enactment of a Law on transparency which includes the right of access to information. This right includes the government obligation to publish and disseminate to the public key information about what different public bodies are doing and the obligation to receive from the public requests for information and to respond to them. This article tries to explain how and why this public policy appears and the requirements it should fulfill to achieve real improvements in the functioning of our democracy.