Description
Book SynopsisIn the wake of controversial disclosures of classified government information by WikiLeaks and Edward Snowden, questions about the democratic status of secret uses of political power are rarely far from the headlines. Despite an increase in initiatives aimed at enhancing government transparency such as freedom of information or sunshine laws secrecy persists in both the foreign and domestic policy of democratic states, in the form of classified intelligence programs, espionage, secret military operations, diplomatic discretion, closed-door political bargaining, and bureaucratic opacity.
This book explores whether the state's claim to restrict access to information can be justified. Dorota Mokrosinska answers this question with a qualified yes, arguing that secrecy in exercising executive and legislative power can be seen as a legitimate exercise of democratic authority rather than as its justified suspension.
Past and recent examples of state secrecy are used throughou
Table of Contents
1. Introduction 2. Government transparency: grounds and limits 3. Reclaiming raison d’état: the necessity of executive secrecy 4. Do states have a right to privacy? 5. Democratic authority of government secrecy 6. Legislative secrecy in deliberation and voting co-authored with Suzanne Bloks. Bibliography Index
