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5 - Transparency in People

Information, Cabals and the Politics of Hidden Networks

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 April 2023

Portia Roelofs
Affiliation:
King's College London
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Summary

Standard approaches to transparency emphasise transparency in data: the principle that data about government activity should be accessible and accurate. This chapter draws on in-depth fieldwork in southwest Nigeria to show how standard data-focused efforts are insufficient to meet popular demands for a government that is knowable and visible. Transparency in data is only one conception of the core concept of transparency. Transparency in things involves demonstrating transparency through the delivery of tangible, concrete outputs, whereas transparency in people demands that the social networks, relations and obligations in which their leaders are embedded should be made legible. Political competition in twenty-first century southwest Nigeria exemplifies the tensions between these rival conceptions of transparency. Whilst the technocratic reforms of the ‘Lagos model’ meant that more government data were in the public domain, there was widespread popular suspicion that official documents may be hiding as much as they reveal. Two examples from Oyo State in the 2010s show how sensitivity to these alternative conceptions of transparency helps explain otherwise counter-intuitive popular responses to government efforts at ‘good governance’. A final section explores the possible consequences of failing to attend to transparency in people, drawing on examples of populist politics in Nigeria and elsewhere.

Type
Chapter
Information
Good Governance in Nigeria
Rethinking Accountability and Transparency in the Twenty-First Century
, pp. 207 - 233
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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  • Transparency in People
  • Portia Roelofs, King's College London
  • Book: Good Governance in Nigeria
  • Online publication: 13 April 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009235471.007
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  • Transparency in People
  • Portia Roelofs, King's College London
  • Book: Good Governance in Nigeria
  • Online publication: 13 April 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009235471.007
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Transparency in People
  • Portia Roelofs, King's College London
  • Book: Good Governance in Nigeria
  • Online publication: 13 April 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009235471.007
Available formats
×