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8/19/2019 Let the Sunshine In: An Assessment of the Open Government Partnership
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Let the Sunshine In
An Assessment of the Open Government Partnership
By Molly Elgin-Cossart, Trevor Sutton, and Kathryn Sachs March 2016
8/19/2019 Let the Sunshine In: An Assessment of the Open Government Partnership
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Let the Sunshine InAn Assessment of the Open Government Partnership
By Molly Elgin-Cossart, Trevor Sutton, and Kathryn Sachs March 2016
8/19/2019 Let the Sunshine In: An Assessment of the Open Government Partnership
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1 Introduction and summary
5 Findings
9 OGP membership and governance structure
12 Assessing progress
27 Challenges
32 The role of the United States in OGP
38 Recommendations
41 Conclusion
42 About the authors
44 Appendix
50 Endnotes
Contents
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Introduction and summary
“In the 21st century, the United States is convinced that one o the most sig-
nificant divisions among nations will not be north/south, east/west, religious,
or any other category so much as whether they are open or closed societies. We
believe that countries with open governments, open economies, and open societies
will increasingly flourish. Tey will become more prosperous, healthier, more
secure, and more peaceul.” 1
Former Secretary o State Hillary Clinton, Open Government Partnership open-ing session, April 2012
“… [W]herever feedom and human rights spread, partners or our nation
are born.” 2
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Council on Foreign Relations event, May 2015
I is emping o hink ha in a globalized, inerconneced world, values such as
democracy, human righs, and reedom would naurally converge. Insead, here
is divergence, wih some counries becoming more open and inclusive and ohers
more closed.3 e pas ew years, especially, have seen he growing repression o
civil sociey by auhoriarian leaders.4 Repressive regimes block Inerne aciviies;
conrol online conen; and use he Inerne and mobile communicaions o rack,
arge, harass, and prosecue aciviss.5
Shifs in geopoliical power oward governmens such as Chinahose ha
embrace illiberal models and narrow space or civil socieyhave challenged
he spread o norms such as openness and paricipaion.6 Crackdowns in Russia,
Hungary, Venezuela, and many oher places show an alarming suppression o ree-dom o expression and a resurgence o auhoriarianism.7 Ye in he mids o his
seeming rerenchmen, a promising iniiaive has shown ha he global appeie
or ransparen, paricipaory, and accounable governmens remains unsaiaed.
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e Open Governmen Parnership, or OGPwhich “aims o secure concree
commimens rom governmens o promoe ransparency, empower ciizens,
figh corrupion, and harness new echnologies o srenghen governance”8was
esablished in 2011 by eigh counries and has since grown o include 69 coun-
ries.9 Counry paricipaion is no limied o he acions o governmens and pub-
lic officialsi exends o civil sociey, which is inended o play a cenral role inhe developmen and implemenaion o open governmen reorms under OGP.
Countries participating in OGP
Albania
Argentina
Armenia
Australia
Azerbaijan
Bosnia and
Herzegovina
Brazil*
Bulgaria
Cape Verde
Canada
Chile
Colombia
Costa Rica
Croatia
Czech Republic
Denmark
Dominican Republic
El Salvador
Estonia
Finland
France
Georgia
Ghana
Greece
Guatemala
Honduras
Hungary
Indonesia
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Ivory Coast
Jordan
Kenya
Latvia
Liberia
Lithuania
Macedonia
Malawi
Malta
Mexico
Moldova
Mongolia
Montenegro
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Panama
Papua New Guinea
Paraguay
Peru
Philippines
Romania
Serbia
Sierra Leone
Slovakia
South Africa
South Korea
Spain
Sri Lanka
Sweden
Tanzania
Trinidad and Toba
Tunisia
Turkey
Ukraine
United Kingdom
United States
Uruguay
* Bolded names denote founding members.10
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Member counries are remarkably diverse in erms o geography, culure, and
levels o economic developmen. A global summi ha convened in Ocober
2015 in Mexico Ciy marked he beginning o he parnership’s fifh year and an
imporan ransiion poin.11
OGP is an innovaive model o global cooperaion. As a volunary iniiaive,i brings ogeher governmens and civil sociey and harnesses he combined
power o domesic and inernaional policy reorm mechanisms. e parnership
has been able o creae a global movemen on an incredibly small budge: oal
adminisraive coss, including unding or independen exper reviews o mem-
ber-counry paricipaion, were less han $3.4 million in 2014 and less han $2.5
million in 2013.12 Civil sociey represenaives comprise hal o he 22-member
Open Governmen Parnership Seering Commitee ha governs OGP, osering
an equal alliance beween civil sociey and governmens.
OGP creaes plaorms or boh domesic and inernaional policy reorms.rough naional acion plans, or NAPswhich creae paricipaory processes
ha draw on boh governmen and civil sociey sakeholders in every member
naion and generae commimens designed o advance open governmen val-
ueshe parnership creaes a domesic plaorm o which governmens can be
held accounable. is accounabiliy is achieved in significan par hrough he
buil-in Independen Reporing Mechanism, or IRM, under which paricipaing
OGP governmens agree o have heir NAPs reviewed by independen hird-pary
expers. e parnership also creaes a global plaorm or reormers rom boh
civil sociey and governmen o showcase innovaion and progress, share lessons
learned, and generae conversaions abou how o navigae he shared challenges
o good governance.13
e model is hus dependen upon high-level poliical commimens, peer pres-
sure, repuaional accounabiliy, and he engagemen o civil sociey in achieving
is aims. is approach sands ou rom radiional approaches o spreading values
such as ransparency and good governance ha rely upon inernaional law; nam-
ing and shaming; or oher leverage, such as developmen assisance or rade. e
parnership is sill in is early days, making i difficul o ully assess is impac over
he medium o long erm. I is possible, however, o conduc an iniial analysisha can provide nascen indicaions o wha is working and where improvemens
are needed. In his repor, he Cener or American Progress idenifies hree main
pahways or impac and assesses OGP’s progress in:
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1. Shaping norms and poliical commimens
2. Simulaing broad and deep paricipaion in good governance
3. Caalyzing domesic policy reorm
e repor concludes wih a review o he role o he Unied Saes in he ound-
ing and uure o he parnership and provides recommendaions o help he
parnership maximize is poenial and or he Unied Saes o coninue o play a
cenral role in is developmen.
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Findings
In evaluaing he Open Governmen Parnership’s progress in advancing he aims
o open governmens, he Cener or American Progress looked o he scope, qual-
iy, and durabiliy o member-counry paricipaion. Much o he analysis is drawn
rom OGP daa on he measures ha individual counries have aken o qualiy or
and paricipae in he parnership, in paricular he qualiy o commimens pu
orward in counries’ individual naional acion plans. CAP compared hese daa
wih oher relevan daa on counries’ economic developmen and geography, as
well as heir rankings on oher open governmen and ransparency indices. CAPalso examined he scale and breadh o civil sociey consulaion underaken by
paricipaing governmens and reviewed specific cases o backsliding and non-
compliance. e findings, summarized below, poin no only o OGP’s innova-
ive characer and he srongarguably universalappeal o open governmen
principles bu also o he challenges o ranslaing high-level commimen o hose
principles ino concree reorms wih lasing impac.
Wealthier societies are no more ambitious
than less wealthy societies
ere is no correlaion beween a counry’s gross domesic produc, or GDP,
per capia and is percenage o ambiious commimens in OGP. Poorer OGP
member counries are jus as likely as wealhier ones o have ambiious, ransor-
maive plans or ransparency and paricipaion. is analysis defines “ambiious”
counry commimens as hose ha are specific, are significan in heir poenial
impac, are relevan o OGP’s principles, and show progress in implemenaion.14
Some examples o ambiious commimens using his definiion include Ireland’s
commimen o hold hree reerenda on he Irish Consiuional Convenion,including one on marriage equaliy; Georgia’s commimen o proacively publish
surveillance daa; and Chile’s commimen o implemen and monior an ac on
lobbying.15 CAP’s analysis ound ha GDP per capia is no a srong driver o per-
ormanceas defined by share o commimens ha are ambiiousin he par-
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nership, which bolsers OGP’s ounding concep ha no group o counries has a
monopoly on openness and innovaion. I also reues he conenion ha open
governmen is a value o Wesern or rich counries; he realiy is ha he concep
has broader appeal. In ac, he op perormers in OGP, as raed by highes share o
ambiious commimens, reflec a wide diversiy o naions rom differen regions,
income levels, and culures. (see able 3)
OGP member country performance indicates
a crawl—not a race—to the top
e Open Budge Index, or OBI, is a ranking o world governmens according o
he ransparency and accessibiliy o heir budgeing processes and is also one o
he merics used o esablish eligibiliy or OGP membership. Beween 2012 and
2015, he average OBI raing or OGP counries increased rom approximaely
57 o 59 on a 100-poin scale.16 is increase poenially lends suppor o he ideaha counries coninue o make progress afer hey have joined, as par o he
OGP model o creaing a race o he op. However, non-OGP member counries
showed a greaer increase over he same ime period, improving rom an average
o approximaely 32 o 36, an improvemen o more han 12 percen.17 Perhaps
his is because hey sared a an overall lower poin on he scale, or perhaps he
parnership is influencing nonmember counries as well by creaing global norms
around openness and ransparency.
The partnership is st il l select ive
Alhough OGP is mean o provide a relaively low bar o enry and encourage a
race o he op, OGP members areon averagewealhier, more ransparen,
and more democraic han heir non-OGP peers.18
There is a lot of work to do to make NAP
development processes truly participatory
Civic paricipaionalong wih access o inormaion, public accounabiliy, and
echnological innovaionis one o he our open governmen principles ha
OGP member counries are expeced o advance hrough heir paricipaion in
he parnership. o his end, counries are expeced o consul wih civil sociey in
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he developmen o heir NAPs. Ye many OGP members sruggle o ensure ha
heir NAP processes are sufficienly consulaive.19 Only 39 percen o civil sociey
paricipans in he NAP developmen process el ha heir inpus were refleced
in he final published plans.20
The partnership is st il l predominantly a European
and Latin American and Caribbean enterprise
While OGP is diverse rom an economic developmen perspecive, i is less so
geographically. Asia and Arica are less represened, given he number o counries
wihin heir regions. is patern reflecs he challenges o creaing a global par-
nership based on principles and values.
Clear lines of responsibility and connections todomestic policy reform are crucial elements of success
An iniial analysis o he effec o OGP’s insiuional home wihin member coun-
ries on counry perormance indicaes ha counries ha ail o engage domesic
policy reormers may compromise heir perormance. e op 10 perormers, in
erms o ambiious commimens, have a diversiy o insiuional arrangemens
or OGP wihin heir governmens. However, among botom perormershose
wih he lowes share o ambiious commimenswo rends emerge: Firs, i is
ofen unclear in which specific insiuional home wihin governmens he OGP
resides. Second, he pluraliy o lowes-perorming counries house heir OGP
poins o conac wihin oreign affairs offices. Given ha oreign affairs minisries
are no generally well-conneced o he processes o domesic poliical reorm and
implemenaion, i is perhaps no surprising ha hese naions perormed worse
han heir peers, since OGP connecs global and domesic policy reorm.21
Reviews are not clearly connected to policy changes
e IRM provides solid analyses o each counry’s NAP, bu here is no clear mech-
anism ha holds counries accounable or addressing he deficiencies and imbal-
ances idenified by he reviewer. More broadly, he inended purpose o he IRM
is ambiguous. I is unclear who is supposed o use he IRM o drive urher reorm
and wheher poor perormance in an IRM review could resul in adverse conse-
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quences or a paricipaing governmen, such as suspension rom OGP. us ar,
he cleares value offered by he IRM process rom an accounabiliy perspecive
has been in giving civil sociey a basis or raising concerns direcly wih he OGP
Seering Commitee in siuaions where member governmens are acing inconsis-
enly wih open governmen values, as seen recenly in Hungary and Azerbaijan.
The United States was instrumental in the creation
of OGP, but its own progress has been uneven
Presiden Barack Obama’s adminisraion made advancing open governmen
a prioriy during he presiden’s firs erm in office and played a cenral role in
esablishing OGP. Despie he adminisraion’s inernaional prominence as an
advocae o open governmen principles, is domesic paricipaion in OGP has
allen shor o is poenial in some areas. While he Obama adminisraion has
made significan srides in improving access o inormaion and echnologicalinnovaion, i has been less successul in ranslaing oher OGP valuesspecifi-
cally public accounabiliy and civic paricipaionino meaningul, concree
commimens. In addiion, he high-level commimens conained in he plans
are ofen suppored by individual policy milesones ha are less ambiious han
he commimens hemselves.
Furhermore, he volunary naure o agency paricipaion in OGP has mean
ha imporan acors wihin he U.S. governmenmos noably he inelligence
communiy and he U.S. Deparmen o Deensehave made limied conribu-
ions o he U.S. plans.
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OGP membership and
governance structure
Eligibiliy or paricipaion in he Open Governmen Parnership is deermined by
a counry’s perormance in our areas: fiscal ransparency; access o inormaion;
public officials’ asse disclosure; and ciizen engagemen. OGP assesses hese cri-
eria o produce a composie eligibiliy score.22 e crieria are relaively inclusive;
here are 100 counries eligible o become members o OGP, 31 o which have
chosen no o join.23 e crieria also are also no inended o be overly resricive;
as o his wriing, only wo counriesunisia and Papua New Guineahave
moved rom eligible o ineligible, and as OGP members, hey have one year oaddress his reversal.24 o join, eligible counries commi o uphold he principles
o he Open Governmen Declaraion.25
Alhough he model o OGP is mean o provide a relaively low bar or enry and
hen encourage a race o he op, he parnership is sill selecive. A ew summary
saisics make i clear ha OGP members rank highly on several key inernaional
indices: No surprisingly, perhaps, OGP members are, on average, wealhier and
more democraic han heir non-OGP peers. e GDP per capia o OGP mem-
ber counries is, on average, 52 percen higher han ha o non-OGP counries. In
addiion, OGP counries scored an average o 11 poins higher on ransparency
Inernaional’s Corrupion Percepions Index. Finally, OGP counries had a higher
Poliy IV scorehe Cener or Sysemic Peace’s daa series ha measures he
level o democracy in independen saeshan nonmembers.26
TABLE 1
Average profile of Open Government Parternship countries vs.Non-Open Government Parternship countries
Based on GDP per capita, corruption perceptions, and political characteristics
GDP per capita in
U.S. dollars, 2014
Transparency
International index Polity IV
OGP $17,569.73 49.9 8.1
Non-OGP $12,026.60 38.1 2
Source: Based on authors’ calculations. Data available in Appendix I.
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Member counries mus draf individual naional acion plans ha conain discree
objecives o be compleed over a wo-year period and issue periodic repors ha
measure heir progress under he plans. Member counries have wide flexibiliy in
designing heir plans, which is appropriae or such a diverse group, bu he com-
mimens conained in he plans mus perain o he principles o ransparency,
accounabiliy, paricipaion, and echnology and innovaion. Each commimenmus be assigned o a lead implemening agency and should correspond o one
or more specific OGP “grand challenges”: improving public services; increasing
public inegriy; effecively managing public resources; creaing saer communiies;
and increasing corporae accounabiliy.27 e process o developing hese plans is
mean o be highly inclusive and o include inpu rom a broad base o civil sociey.
Counries hen repor on heir progress a he end o each year o implemenaion.
In addiion o sel-reporing, member governmens submi o an Independen
Reporing Mechanism review, which evaluaes he qualiy o he counry’s commi-
mens in relaion o OGP’s values, he compleion o hose commimens, and oheraspecs o he NAPs’ success or ailure. is independen review is unique among
mulilaeral organizaions, which generally rely only upon sel-reporing or peer
review. IRM progress repors are carried ou by independen researchers under he
guidance o is Inernaional Exper Panel. Researchers underake consulaive pro-
cesses in each counry o review each governmen’s progress, including consulaions
wih civil sociey. e IRM is inended o provide independen, credible evidence
and consrucive suggesions or member counries’ nex NAP cycles.28
During is Sepember 2014 meeing, he OGP Seering Commitee esablished
a new response policy in an effor o address he cleares violaions o Open
Governmen Declaraion principles. Civil sociey organizaions, or CSOs, helped
promp his change by raising concerns abou pracices occurring in heir coun-
ries. e new policy has wo aims: 1) o “assis he counry in quesion o over-
come difficulies and o help re-esablish an environmen or governmen and civil
sociey collaboraion” and 2) o “saeguard he Open Governmen Declaraion
and miigae repuaional risks o OGP.”29 Several groupsSeering Commitee
members, OGP mulilaeral parners, working group leaders, and civil sociey
organizaionscan rigger an OGP invesigaion by presening a leter deailing
heir concerns o he Seering Commitee as a whole.
Overseeing he eligibiliy review, he adequacy o counry acion plans, and he
qualiy o IRM repors is a governing adminisraive srucure ha seeks o balance
regional and sakeholder diversiy. A he op o his srucure is he OGP Seering
Commitee, which is composed o equal numbers o roaing represenaives rom
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member governmens and civil sociey. Governmens ha seek o appoin a rep-
resenaive o he Seering Commitee should provide “leadership by example or
OGP in erms o domesic commimens, acion plan progress, paricipaion in he
annual conerence, and oher inernaional opporuniies o promoe open govern-
men.”30 All OGP member counries voe or new Seering Commitee members in
elecions ha are organized and run by an independen elecions firm.31
A specialcommitee composed o CSOs elecs he civil sociey represenaives.32 A leas
one and no more han our governmen members mus come rom each o he our
geographic regions: Asia; Arica; he Americas; and Europe.
Under he Seering Commitee are hree sanding subcommitees ha deal wih
governance and leadership, crieria and sandards, and peer learning and suppor,
respecively. ese subcommitees are in urn suppored by he OGP Suppor
Uni, which uncions as a kind o lean secrearia offering boh experise and
adminisraive assisance and liaises requenly wih individual governmens. In
conras o he large bureaucracies ha suppor many mulilaeral iniiaives, heOGP Suppor Uni is relaively small, wih jus more han 20 saff members and
a budge o $3.4 million in 2014 o suppor 66 counries worldwide.33 Funding
comes boh rom member-counry conribuions and philanhropies. e Suppor
Uni’s mos significan responsibiliies include managing OGP’s exernal branding
and communicaion; mediaing beween governmens and CSOs; and providing
OGP paricipans wih ools, resources, and relaionships on which hey can draw
o ulfill heir responsibiliies under he parnership, including an exensive daa-
base o elecronic resources. ogeher, he subcommitees and he Suppor Uni
provide a permanen inrasrucure o enhance Seering Commitee oversigh and
o improve he conribuions o individual governmens.34
A final, innovaive eaure o OGP is is aciliaion o a sysem o peer-o-peer
suppor and advice. Wih assisance rom he Suppor Uni, paricipaing govern-
mens and CSOs have ormed working groups ha are organized around common
hemes in NAPs. ese working groups creae inormal conacs beween civil
servans who are working on he same issues in differen jurisdicions, providing a
channel or knowledge ranser beween governmens and nongovernmenal orga-
nizaions, or NGOs, ha have well-developed open governmen inrasrucure
and hose ha are saring rom a more rudimenary baseline. ese ineracionshave included advice on drafing asse disclosure laws, ree exchange o compuer
code or open daa purposes, and uorials on engaging civil sociey.
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Assessing progress
How has his innovaive atemp “o promoe ransparency, empower ciizens,
figh corrupion, and harness new echnologies o srenghen governance”35
ared in our years? e parnership aces an imporan ransiion period over
he nex ew years, wih new co-chairs, a new sraegic plan, a new execuive
direcor, and leadership ransiions in several o is ounding counries, includ-
ing he Unied Saes.36 In his period o ransiion, an assessmen o where he
parnership sands can shed ligh on how o successully consolidae progress
and manage he changes ahead.
o assess Open Governmen Parnership success, his repor draws upon a basic
heory o wha a mulisakeholder iniiaive can accomplish, OGP’s own sae-
mens, and is 2015–2018 sraegic plan o ideniy and analyze hree main ways in
which he parnership can have an impac:
1. Shaping norms and poliical commimen
2. Simulaing broad and deep paricipaion in good governance
3. Caalyzing domesic policy reorm
Shaping norms and political commitment
e parnership has he power o shape global norms. Begun a he highes
poliical level wih he involvemen o heads o sae, OGP has demonsraed
is appeal by atracing a wide range o counries ha represen a large share o
he global populaion. Member counries can bolser each oher’s reorm efforsand help galvanize poliical suppor or broader openness and ransparency
reorms in oher processes and orums, as seen in he ormulaion o he global
Susainable Developmen Goals.37
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o coninue o do so, however, he parnership will need o mainain high-level
poliical atenion. Alhough i is difficul o quaniy, here are some iniial indica-
ions o how OGP is aring on his ron.
OGP has received very high-level atenion in member governmens’ official
saemens. A limied survey reveals several reerences rom heads o sae andgovernmens: A join saemen rom he Unied Saes and he Czech Republic
menioned OGP as a plaorm or ransparency in 2011; U.K. Prime Miniser
David Cameron menioned OGP as a plaorm or ransparency a he U.K.-
hosed G-8 summi in 2013; Presiden Obama, joining Kenyan Presiden Uhuru
Kenyata a he Global Enrepreneurship Summi in 2015, spoke o OGP as a
way o “promoe he rule o law”; and Norh American leaders expressed suppor
a a 2014 meeing where he prime miniser o Canada and he presidens o
Mexico and he Unied Saes called OGP an example o “collecive soluions o
global challenges.”38 Alhough hese commens are anecdoal, suppor rom he
highes levels is key o making OGP he ocal poin or openness and ranspar-ency and coninuing o shape global norms.
e power o shape norms no only affecs member counries bu also lends
srengh o he global movemen or ransparency and ani-corrupion. ereore,
he parnership may indirecly influence nonmembers as well. Indeed, while OGP
member counries sar ou wih a higher overall average on he Inernaional
Budge Parnership’s Open Budge Indexone o he eligibiliy crieria or join-
ing OGPand showed improvemen beween 2012 and 2015 in heir scores,
non-OGP counries acually showed a ar greaer improvemen in heir rankings
on he OBI during he same ime rame. is could reflec a lower saring poin,
an increasingly global movemen oward ransparency and open budges ha
OGP helps simulae, or boh. is canno be direcly atribued o OGP, bu i is
worh exploring his rend urher and examining poenial hypoheses o beter
undersand he mechanisms by which he movemen or openness works.
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TABLE 2
Have Open Government Partnership members shown improvedperformance since joining?
Change in Open Budget Index between 2012 and 2015
OGP countries by
GDP per capita OBI 2012 OBI 2015 Change
Percentage
change
Dominican Republic 29 51 22 75.86%
Romania 47 75 28 59.57%
Philippines 48 64 16 33.33%
Sierra Leone 39 52 13 33.33%
Peru 58 75 17 29.31%
El Salvador 43 53 10 23.26%
Italy 60 73 13 21.67%
Azerbaijan 42 51 9 21.43%
Serbia 39 47 8 20.51%
Georgia 55 66 11 20.00%
Argentina 50 59 9 18.00%
Mexico 61 66 5 8.20%
Costa Rica 50 54 4 8.00%
Brazil 73 77 4 5.48%
Sweden 84 87 3 3.57%
United States 79 81 2 2.53%
Ghana 50 51 1 2.00%
Norway 83 84 1 1.20%
Bulgaria 65 65 0 0.00%
Macedonia 35 35 0 0.00%
Mongolia 51 51 0 0.00%
Colombia 58 57 -1 -1.72%
Kenya 49 48 -1 -2.04%
Tanzania 47 46 -1 -2.13%
Jordan 57 55 -2 -3.51%
South Africa 90 86 -4 -4.44%
Indonesia 62 59 -3 -4.84%
New Zealand 93 88 -5 -5.38%
Spain 63 58 -5 -7.94%
Czech Republic 75 69 -6 -8.00%
Guatemala 51 46 -5 -9.80%
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OGP countries by
GDP per capita OBI 2012 OBI 2015 Change
Percentage
change
Trinidad and Tobago 38 34 -4 -10.53%
Liberia 43 38 -5 -11.63%
Turkey 50 44 -6 -12.00%
Chile 66 58 -8 -12.12%
Croatia 61 53 -8 -13.11%
South Korea 75 65 -10 -13.33%
United Kingdom 88 75 -13 -14.77%
Ukraine 54 46 -8 -14.81%
Slovakia 67 57 -10 -14.93%
Honduras 53 43 -10 -18.87%
Albania 47 38 -9 -19.15%
Non-OGP countries by
GDP per capita OBI 2012 OBI 2015 Change
Percentage
change
Benin 1 45 44 4400.0%
Zambia 4 39 35 875.0%
Rwanda 8 36 28 350.0%
Cameroon 10 44 34 340.0%
Senegal 10 43 33 330.0%
Niger 4 17 13 325.0%
Yemen 11 34 23 209.1%
Kyrgyz Republic 20 54 34 170.0%
Fiji 6 15 9 150.0%
Democratic Republic of the Congo 18 39 21 116.7%
Burkina Faso 23 43 20 87.0%
Zimbabwe 20 35 15 75.0%
Ecuador 31 50 19 61.3%
Nigeria 16 24 8 50.0%
Tajikistan 17 25 8 47.1%
Algeria 13 19 6 46.2%
Bolivia 12 17 5 41.7%
Chad 3 4 1 33.3%
China 11 14 3 27.3%
Egypt 13 16 3 23.1%
Malaysia 39 46 7 17.9%
Thailand 36 42 6 16.7%
Timor-Leste 36 41 5 13.9%
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Non-OGP countries by
GDP per capita OBI 2012 OBI 2015 Change
Percentage
change
Nicaragua 42 46 4 9.5%
Poland 59 64 5 8.5%
Mali 43 46 3 7.0%
Kazakhstan 48 51 3 6.3%
Portugal 62 64 2 3.2%
Germany 71 71 0 0.0%
Morocco 51 51 0 0.0%
Russia 74 74 0 0.0%
Sao Tome and Principe 29 29 0 0.0%
Papua New Guinea 56 55 -1 -1.8%
Bangladesh 58 56 -2 -3.4%
Uganda 65 62 -3 -4.6%
Vietnam 19 18 -1 -5.3%
Angola 28 26 -2 -7.1%
Slovenia 74 68 -6 -8.1%
France 83 76 -7 -8.4%
Bosnia and Herzegovina 50 43 -7 -14.0%
Sri Lanka 46 39 -7 -15.2%
Namibia 55 46 -9 -16.4%
Mozambique 47 38 -9 -19.1%
Iraq 4 3 -1 -25.0%
Pakistan 58 43 -15 -25.9%
Afghanistan 59 42 -17 -28.8%
India 68 46 -22 -32.4%
Nepal 44 24 -20 -45.5%
Cambodia 15 8 -7 -46.7%
Venezuela 37 8 -29 -78.4%
Lebanon 33 2 -31 -93.9%
Saudi Arabia 1 0 -1 -100.0%
Sources: Author’s calculations based on Open Government Partnership, “OGP Explorer,” available at http://www.opengovpartnership.org/ explorer/all-data.html (last accessed February 2016); International Budget Partnership, “Open Budget Index Rankings,” available at http://
internationalbudget.org/opening-budgets/open-budget-initiative/open-budget-survey/publications-2/rankings-key-findings/rankings/ (last
accessed February 2016).
Note: OGP member countries without available OBI data were omitted.
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OGP is no inended o serve as an endorsemen o success bu raher a moivaor,
using incenives and peer pressure rom he OGP nework o encourage a race o
he op. e assumpion is no ha each counry has achieved perec openness
bu ha i has shown sufficien ineres in ataining i, as indicaed by he eligibil-
iy requiremens. e ramework o OGP helps member counries ake acions o
urher ha ineres by creaing a plaorm or reormers boh inside and ousidegovernmen o bring abou change.39
e number o applicaions o he Open Governmen Awards, which seek o show-
case how open governmen iniiaives have resuled in concree improvemens in
paricular areas, declined slighly in 2015 relaive o is inaugural year in 2014no
significanly, bu he decline may poin o less enhusiasm among members.40 is
could poenially indicae ha he race-o-he-op elemen o he parnership is no
atracing enough high-level atenion, or i could merely indicae less atenion a
lower levels o governmen. Recognizing significan achievemens hrough hese
awards, however, is an imporan elemen o he posiive reinorcemen mecha-nisms o he parnership and deserves more atenion. As currenly consruced, he
awards are no based upon perormance or policy reorm wihin OGP bu insead
on relaed areas in order o spoligh innovaion. Broadening he awards crieria o
also include perormance on OGP principles is one way o boos counries’ ineres
in making progress on open governmen commimens.
Where counries choose o insiuionalize OGP wihin heir governmens may be
anoher indicaion o wha kind o atenion he iniiaive is receiving. Each naion
is required o designae a poin o conac o liaise beween he OGP members, he
Suppor Uni, and heir domesic OGP effors. Among he op 10 perormers, here
is a diversiy o insiuional homes wihin heir respecive member governmens,
hough OGP resides mosly in execuive, civic engagemen, or planning and budge-
ing offices, all o which are closely ied o a counry’s leadership and resources. 41
Among he lowes perormers, wo rends emerge. Firs, i is ofen unclear where
he specific insiuional home resides wihin a governmen. is lack o clar-
iy may be eiher a sympom or a cause o naions perorming poorly, or boh.
I could be ha counries ha are less commited o OGP and is principles pay
less atenion o which eniy becomes he poin o conac; i could also be hacounries ha appoin an agency ha is no properly srucured or or engaged
direcly wih ransparency, civic engagemen, and ani-corrupion do no deliver
as effecively. A second patern is ha among he lowes perormers, he plural-
iy o counries house heir OGP poins o conac wihin oreign affairs offices.
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Given ha oreign affairs minisries are no generally well-conneced o he
processes o domesic poliical reorm, i is hardly surprising ha hese naions
have no perormed as well, because OGP is inended o connec global and
domesic policy reorm. While oreign minisries are excellen a connecing wih
he inernaional aspec o he parnership, hey may be unable o connec as well
wih domesic reorm effors.
Anoher indicaor o high-level atenion specified by he OGP Suppor Uni is
he atendance o high-level governmen officials a OGP evens. By ha score,
he parnership is doing airly well, wih solid numbers o heads o sae atending
he global summis and wih miniserial-level atendance a regional summis.42
e key quesion is how o mainain his high level o atenion, especially as he
ounding members shif ou o leadership posiions.
Recent high-level engagement on OGP
The following is a partial summary of recent OGP events attended by heads of state and
senior officials.
At recent OGP biannual summits:
• London 2013: 4 heads of state and ministers, deputy ministers, under secretaries
and secretaries from 31 OGP countries43
• U.N. General Assembly 2014: 10 heads of state and 30 ministers44
At recent OGP annual meetings:
• Bali 2014: 1 head of state and 11 ministers from 10 OGP countries45
• Dublin 2014: 7 ministers46
• Costa Rica 2014: an estimated 15 ministers47
• Tanzania 2015: 1 head of state and 7 ministers, mainly from Tanzania48
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Overall, OGP looks o be doing well on high-level poliical engagemen, hough
noably some o he saemens o suppor and atendance rom high-level figures
may begin o wane as he iniial ounding member counries shif ou o leadership
posiions on he OGP Seering Commitee and as elecions in member counries
bring leadership changes ha may affec governmens’ enhusiasm or engagemen.
Stimulating broad and deep participation
e mos recen our-year sraegy documen issued by he OGP Suppor Uni
observed ha he parnership’s perormance “has surpassed mos expecaions
or wha OGP could achieve in such a shor ime rame and wih such a mod-
es invesmen o resources.”49 ere is considerable ruh o his saemen. In
ewer han our years, OGP has developed ino a ruly global movemen. Sixy-
six counries ha span six coninens and comprise more han one-hird o he
global populaion have joined OGP. is number represens an impressive 70percen o eligible counries.
rough OGP, one-hird o he world’s governmens, including many governmens
wih mixed rack records on ransparency, have publicly endorsed he principles o
openness, accounabiliy, paricipaion, and access o inormaion and commited o
acions ha will urher hose principles in ron o heir own ciizens. Such promises
srenghen he posiion o civic groups advocaing or greaer ransparency.
One o he mos ineresing innovaions o OGP is ha, in he words o Jorge
Hagea ounder and hen-miniser o sae and head o he Office o he
Comproller General o Brazilin 2013, “No disincion is made beween
developed or emerging counries and underdeveloped or economically mod-
es naions.”50 As he social, culural, and economic diversiy o OGP parici-
pans coninues o increase, i is becoming clearer ha ransparency and open
governmen principles are universal values ha can be adaped o a wide range
o poliical environmens. In ac, Jeremy Weinsein, who was par o he U.S.
governmen eam in OGP’s early days, noed ha much o he innovaion in
promoing open governmen occurs in developing counries and ha developed
counries have much o learn rom hem.51
A simple analysis o he commimens under he acion plans demonsraes ha
poorer counries are no less likely han richer counries o make poenially rans-
ormaive commimens and see hem hrough. (see Figure 1) In ac, i is ofen
developing counries ha are leading he way: O he counries wih he highes
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percenage o ambiious commimenshose commimens wih he highes
poenial or ransormaion ha are acually being mewo emerging econo-
mies, Croaia and Uruguay, come ou on op.52 is shif away rom a developed-
developing counry dynamic is one o he more inriguing aspecs o OGP. o he
exen ha here is a common hread among he op perormers, i is ha hey are
in neiher he op nor he botom quarile o global rankings o per capia GDP,
suggesing ha OGP’s greaes value may be in providing a ramework and impe-
us or change in saes a an inermediae sage o economic developmen.53
FIGURE 1
Is there a correlation between GDP and ambitious commitments?
Source: Author's calculations are based on Open Government Partnership, "OGP Explorer," available at
http://www.opengovpartnership.org/explorer/all-data.html (last accessed February 2016).
Note: Most recent GDP per capita data were taken in 2013. OGP members with reviews that will be released in March 2016 wereommitted due to lack of data. For the purposes of this analysis, the authors categorize ambitious commitments as those that are
specific, are significant in their potential impact, are relevant to OGP’s principles, and show progress in implementation. This is differentfrom the Independent Reporting Mechanism methodology for assessing starred commitments.
GDP per capita in U.S. dollars, 2014
Percentage categorized ambitious
0 $10,000 $20,000 $30,000 $40,000 $50,000 $60,0000%
20%
40%
60%
80%
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TABLE 3
Who are the top and bottom performers?
Top 10 performing countries by percentage of ambitious commitments
Ambitious c ommitments Total c ommitments
Bottom 10 performers by percentage of ambitious commitments
Ambitious commitments Total commitments
* Note: Montenegro and Guatemala tied for 10th worst performer in terms of percentage of ambitious commitments. For the purposes of this analysis, the authors categorize ambitious
commitments as those that are specific, are significant in their potential impact, are relevant to OGP’s principles, and show progress in implementation.
Source: Author’s calculations based on Open Government Partnership, “OGP Explorer,” available at http://www.opengovpartnership.org/explorer/all-data.html (last accessed February 2016
Percentage categorized ambit
Percentage categorized ambit
Croatia
Uruguay
Bulgaria
Liberia
Colombia
Moldova
Slovakia
Italy
Albania
Spain
Czech Republic
Hungary
Panama
Peru
South Korea
Sweden
Romania
Latvia
Armenia
Guatemala*
Montenegro*
22
6
9
2
9
15
7
4
7
3
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
4
33
17
26
6
28
47
22
16
30
13
6
5
5
48
16
7
18
17
15
14
56
66.7%
35.3%
34.6%
33.3%
32.1%
31.9%
31.8%
25.0%
23.3%
23.1%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
5.6%
5.9%
6.7%
7.1%
7.1%
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Engagemen is a key goal o OGP, and hus he process o developing and
ulfilling commimens maters as much as heir conen. OGP’s aricles o
governance require ha counries develop heir acion plans “wih he acive
engagemen o ciizens and civil sociey.”54
Each paricipaing governmen mus give is domesic inerlocuor sufficien imeand opporuniy o review he NAP, ensure ha he deails o he plan are com-
municaed hrough muliple channelsincluding online porals and in-person
meeingsand ensure ha a broad specrum o civil sociey and privae-secor
acors is consuled. In addiion, governmens mus documen and make publicly
available heir consulaions wih nongovernmen acors, including any writen
commens ha come ou o ha engagemen.
Counries showed varying levels o compliance wih mandaory OGP consul-
aion processes during he period rom 2012 o 2014, especially during NAP
developmen, as he char below shows.55 In paricular, he lack o compliance when i came o seting imelines, providing advance noice, and raising aware-
ness wihin civil sociey poins o he concern ha engagemen may be more o
a check-he-box exercise. e majoriy o governmens have in-person or online
consulaions74 percen and 54 percen o OGP members engage in hese
ways, respecivelybu pu litle ime ino ensuring he qualiy, breadh, and
deph o hese consulaions.56
Alhough paricipaion is difficul o assess in a rigorous, quaniaive way, i is a
core principle o OGP and a key componen o is success. e parnership’s con-
inued success will depend upon is abiliy o deepen he paricipaion o exising
members, including governmens and civil sociey.
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FIGURE 2
Engaging civil society: How do Open Government Partnershipmembers fare?
Percentage of countries meeting requirements
Source: Joseph Foti, "Technical Paper 1" (Washington: Open Government Partnership, 2015), available at http://www.opengovpartner-
ship.org/sites/default/files/attachments/Technical%20paper%201_final.pdf.
Timeline availability
Advance notice
Awareness raising
Online consultation
In person
Summary
Regular forum (during implementation)
Self-assessment (after implementation)
23%
29%
29%
54%
74%
31%
43%
80%
Consulation compliance process
Government participation in OGPThe OGP Support Unit tracks a few metrics that are indicative of how governments are faring on participation:
• Number of government officials who participate in
OGP working groups: 262 individuals across 5 working
groups as of July 201557
• Number of instances where working groups have
provided assistance in developing a National
Action Plan: 20 instances as of July 201558
• Number of multilateral partners providing finan
cial and/or technical assistance in developing or
implementing an OGP commitment: 4 cases as of
August 201559
• Share of OGP countries that have established a
forum for regular multistakeholder consultationon OGP implementation: 43 percent60
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On he civil sociey side, here is clearly ension beween governmen and civil
sociey perspecives, as refleced in he civil sociey engagemen surveys ha are
run by he Suppor Uni’s civil sociey eam. When asked how much civil sociey
inpu is refleced in governmens’ NAPs, or example, 80 percen o governmen
respondens believe ha “all” or “mos” o civil sociey inpu is refleced. In con-
ras, only 39 percen o civil sociey respondens hink ha heir inpu is refleced.On he brigh side, 59 percen o civil sociey respondens believe ha he qualiy
o governmen recepiveness o inpu rom civil sociey organizaions abou NAPs
is “good,” and only 6 percen hink recepiviy o CSO inpu is “poor.”61
Civil sociey engagemen is a learning process, and governmens will learn
hrough he repeaed process o engagemen on NAPs, as well as rom each oher.
Some ineresing lessons have already come ou o his process. Mexico’s and
Indonesia’s draf NAPs were widely criicized by civil sociey in hose counries
or being oo vague. In Mexico, an inense discussion occurred beween a se o
sakeholders ha included CSOs; he Federal Access o Inormaion and DaaProecion Insiue, or IFAI; and he Minisry o Public Adminisraion, which
resuled in he ormaion o he OGP riparie echnical Secrearia, or TS.
TS evenually creaed a Reinorced or Exended Acion Plan and has remained a
permanen fixure o Mexico’s OGP process, as i has proven o be a good plaorm
or discussion.62 In Indonesia, however, CSOs coninue o eel excluded i hey are
no par o he governmen-seleced core eam ha creaes he NAPs.63
Catalyzing domestic policy reform
OGP is inended o be a vehicle o simulae policy reorm, and he parnership
aspires o become he cenral node or ransparen and accounable governmen.
ereore, a key indicaion o success is wha kinds o reorms member counries
are able o bring abou. e parnership encourages reorm in several ways. One is
ha i requires member governmens o craf acion plans and recognizes govern-
mens ha aim or specific and poenially ransormaive reorms by designaing
hem as “sarred” commimens and hen makes he share o sarred commimens
in each counry’s acion plan publicly available.64 e crieria ha OGP uses o
ideniy sarred commimens are no idenical o hose used in his repor oideniy ambiious commimens, alhough here is subsanial overlap.
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As Rakesh Rajani, previously he lead civil sociey chair or OGP, has said, “e
mark o success or OGP is no how many counries sign on, bu how many com-
mimens hey deliver.”65 Given he race-o-he-op model, he qualiy o commi-
mens maters. Beyond shaping global norms, does he parnership drive change
on he ground in counries?
An Independen Reporing Mechanism synhesis repor presened daa ha
revealed ha many NAPs had “filler commimens” ha were eiher vague, irrel-
evan, or had no posiive poenial impac. Despie such criiques, many member
governmens included exceedingly low percenages o new commimens in heir
second NAPs. And only wo evaluaed NAPs showed beween 80 percen and 100
percen compleion o commimens.66
e IRM process ound ha overall, only 29 percen o commimens ha were
made during he firs year o OGP have been compleed. While his percenage
may seem low, i represens more han 270 commimens ha were compleed by43 counries.67 In some cases, hese commimens included pre-exising iniia-
ives ha may have been implemened ouside an OGP ramework; or example,
he Unied Saes’ NAP incorporaed prior commimens rom previous effors.68
Even so, here is litle doub ha OGP has moved he needle orward on open
governmen in a wide range o jurisdicions.
e mos common commimens, caegorized by OGP values, are relaed o
access o inormaion, while civic paricipaion-relaed commimens are by ar
he leas common. By issue, he greaes number o commimens were made wih
respec o e-governmen, capaciy building, and open daa. Commimens relaed
o media, social audis, and deense were given less atenion and suffer rom
poenial neglec.69 ese paterns may poin o a weakness in OGP’s srucure in
addressing very difficul, enrenched culural and poliical issues.
In oal, 198 o he 777 currenly evaluaed commimens, or abou 25 percen,
are ambiious. Croaia and Uruguay have he highes raes o ambiious com-
mimens, ollowed by Bulgaria and Liberia. Conversely, he Czech Republic,
Hungary, Panama, Peru, Souh Korea, and Sweden had zero ambiious commi-
mens, ollowing closely behind Romania, Lavia, and Armenia wih one each, orless han 7 percen o heir oal commimens. (see able 3)
e parnership also provides a plaorm or engagemen, learning, and combined
advocacy or reormers boh in governmen and civil sociey so ha advocaes can
draw srengh and learn lessons rom colleagues around he world.
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Even in nonparicipaing counries, he exisence o OGP makes i more difficul
or governmen officials who are hosile or indifferen o an open governmen
agenda o ignore or sof-pedal demands or greaer ransparency and access o
inormaion. e exisence o he parnership has he poenial o spur a race o
he op among nonmember governmens as well, eiher by shaping global norms
on ransparency or by encouraging nonmember counries o become membersand make he necessary reorms o mee he eligibiliy crieria.
Some o he mos compelling evidence o OGP’s ransormaive impac is he
reorms ha governmens insiue merely o qualiy or he parnership. For
example, unisia, Sierra Leone, and Malawi have all passed subsanial legislaion
in an effor o mee he eligibiliy requiremens, which hey have done success-
ully. ese effors speak boh o he broad appeal o open governance norms and
he viruous circle ha OGP has se in moion: e more counries ha join OGP,
he weaker he argumens are agains joining.
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Challenges
Despie he Open Governmen Parnership’s success in bridging he developed-
developing counry divide, i has been less successul in balancing regional
represenaion, wih Lain America and Europe proporionally dominan while
Asia and Arica are less well-represened. is dispariy is parly a uncion o he
number o eligible counries in each regiono which Arica has he lowes as a
share o is oal counriesand may also reflec culural differences, bu i OGP
seeks o be a ruly global movemen or open governmen, i will need o engage
counries more broadly and expand is engagemen hrough regional bodies.
Once counries have joined OGP, here are very ew accounabiliy mecha-
nisms ha encourage openness or progress.70
In ceraineven manycases,governmens’ acions may give pause o observers and cause skepicism. e
Independen Reporing Mechanism repors provide solid analyses o each coun-
ry’s naional acion plan, bu here is no ormal srucure ha holds each counry
accounable or addressing he problems revealed by he IRM reviews. More
TABLE 4
Participation and eligibility by region
Region
Number of
participants
Number of eligible
countries that are not
participating
Total eligible
countries
Percentage of elig
countries that are
participating
Africa 9 9 18 50.0%
Americas 17 3 20 15.0%
Middle East and North Africa 4 0 4 0.0%
Asia 5 9 14 64.3%
Europe 31 10 41 24.4%
Oceania 3 0 3 0.0%
All regions 69 31 100 31.00%
Source: Open Government Partnership, “Home,” available at http://www.opengovpartnership.org/ (last accessed February 2016).
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broadly, he inended purpose o he IRM is ambiguous: Is i inended o inorm
and promp ollow-up acions by governmens or by civil sociey, or possibly
boh? Is he IRM limied solely o assessing he role o governmen, or migh i
exend o offer assessmens o civil sociey ’s role? Alhough he IRM is poenially
an imporan componen o accounabiliy, i is unclear wheher connecions can
and should exis beween he IRM and ollow-up hrough NAPs or oher means.
Clearly, perormance in making reorms varies across counries. Bu are mecha-
nisms or accounabiliy buil ino he parnership srucure? e Seering
Commitee has he auhoriy o review he paricipaion o a governmen in
OGP i he governmen’s eligibiliy crieria slip beneah he minimum hreshold
afer he counry is admited, i i is oherwise deficien in he preparaion or
implemenaion o is acion plans, or i i has aced inconsisenly wih he Open
Governmen Declaraion. I is unclear rom OGP’s aricles o governance wheher
his power o review also implies he power o suspend OGP paricipaion.
As wih any high-profile inernaional iniiaive ha perains o good governance
or human righs, here is a risk ha some o he paricipaing governmens may wish o use OGP as a means o deflecing domesic and inernaional criicism
have litle ineres in meeing heir obligaions under he parnership. OGP’s
emphasis on helpingraher han sancioningnoncomplian governmens,
A summary of recent activity relating to OGPcompliance and accountability
Ten countries received letters from the OGP Support Unit for being more than four
months behind on their NAPs.
• Azerbaijan and Israel, which had requested extensions on either the submission or
implementation deadline of their NAPs, received letters granting these extensions but
informing them that they would be expected to adhere to a two-year implementation
cycle for future action plans.
• Malta and Turkey, which received letters from the OGP Support Unit two years in a
row, have been referred to the Criteria and Standards Subcommittee.71
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while undersandable in an iniiaive ha is predicaed on volunary paricipaion,
creaes a weakness in oversigh ha could resul in a governmen mainaining is
paricipan saus over a prolonged periodeven indefinielywhile holding
litle real commimen o OGP’s values.
Recen evens have challenged he exising model o OGP and indicae a promis-ing insiuional flexibiliy and he prioriizaion o he parnership’s credibiliy
and values. As previously menioned, he OGP Seering Commitee esablished
a new response policy in 2014 o conron he mos blaan violaions o Open
Governmen Declaraion principles. By raising concerns abou unaccepable
pracices ha were occurring in heir counries, civil sociey organizaions helped
bring abou his change. e policy has wo aims: 1) o assis counries in resor-
ing a more rusing and producive relaionship beween governmen and civil
sociey and 2) o ensure ha OGP member governmens respec he Open
Governmen Declaraion and do no damage he repuaion o OGP. Several
groupsSeering Commitee members, OGP mulilaeral parners, workinggroup leaders, and CSOscan rigger an OGP invesigaion by presening a leter
deailing heir concerns o he Seering Group as a whole.72
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Testing the model:
Azerbaijan and Hungary
In March 2015, civil sociey organizaions rom wo counries, Azerbaijan and
Hungary, submited leters o concern using he response policy. e leter rom
Azerbaijani CSOs claimed ha he Azerbaijani governmen’s behavior oward
civil sociey “raises imporan concerns abou [is] commimen o he values and
principles expressed in he Open Governmen Declaraion.”73 According o or
Hodenfield, policy and advocacy officer a CIVICUS World Alliance or Ciizen
Paricipaion, “e Azerbaijani governmen has orchesraed a crackdown on
independen NGOs and reedom o expression more broadly.” is has includedlegislaive resricions on nongovernmenal organizaions and arress o heir lead-
ers and invesigaive journaliss.74
e leter o OGP deails acions ha were aken by he governmenincluding
smear campaigns, resricive legislaive amendmens, and conrol and harass-
men o NGOsha have led o he inimidaion o CSOs and individuals and
he silencing o any discourse. e auhors drew on he Independen Reporing
Mechanism review o Azerbaijan’s naional acion plan in advancing heir claims,
in paricular he “counry conex” porion o he repor which described some o
he abuses enumeraed in he leter. Finally, he members asked he OGP Seering
Commitee o “help esablish a posiive environmen or governmen and civil
sociey collaboraion,” including recommendaions.75
OGP’s review ound ha he Azerbaijani CSOs’ concerns are valid. OGP has
begun sage 1 responses, which include working wih he Azerbaijani govern-
men o creae a work plan wih he Crieria and Sandards Subcommitee o fix
hese problems.76 Subsequenly, he Exracive Indusries ransparency Iniiaive,
or EII, which promoes accounabiliy in naural resource managemen, has
downgraded Azerbaijan rom complian o candidae saus.77
Failure o ac in hissiuaion could harm OGP’s repuaion.
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Hungary’s leter, which poined ou direc acion agains and harassmen o
criical CSOs and which also drew on a recen IRM review, was submited
more recenly, and he counry is currenly under review by he Crieria and
Sandards Subcommitee.78
ese cases reveal he weaknesses and srenghs o OGP’s membership rame- work. Wihin he membership srucure, counries’ NAP commimens are
no necessarily conneced o acual progress on ransparency, and here is no
direc link beween he IRM and accounabiliy. Alhough boh Azerbaijan’s
and Hungary’s IRM repors indicaed poenial problemsand alhough hese
findings were reerenced in boh o he leters o he Seering Commiteehe
IRM repor isel was no sufficien o rigger acion rom he parnership. Direc
civil sociey inervenion was required or he OGP Seering Commitee o ac.
While civil sociey endorsemen o OGP acions is imporan, civil sociey acors
may ace limiaions on wha hey can openly express due o ear o reribuion
rom heir governmens. e Seering Commitee or he Suppor Uni shouldconsider reaching ou proacively o civil sociey raher han waiing or CSOs o
voice heir concerns. In paricular, he Seering Commitee should closely ollow
he “counry conex” componen o IRM repors, which can provide imporan
inormaion on domesic condiions.
Azerbaijan and Hungary have shown ha member counries can acively ail o
achieve any o he goals o OGP. e curren OGP srucure may no be sufficien
o address compliance issues, hough i can provide criical suppor when civil
sociey chooses o ac. ese cases show he limiaions o he IRM process bu
also poin o he rigor o he IRM repors, he srengh o civil sociey engage-
men, and he imporan role played by nongovernmenal acors wihin he
parnership. ey also show ha where domesic space or civil sociey is limied,
OGP can creae an effecive plaorm or civil sociey paricipaion a he inerna-
ional level. How OGP resolves hese wo cases and heir individual oucomes will
have a significan impac on OGP’s repuaion and is model o simulaing a race
o he op. Delays in addressing he issues a hand will only impede OGP’s effors
o raise he level o ambiion among is members more generally.
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The role of the
United States in OGP
For more han 50 years, he Unied Saes has been an imporan incubaor o
ideas abou open governmen. From he Adminisraive Procedure Ac and he
Freedom o Inormaion Ac, or FOIA, o he open daa principles, he Unied
Saes has been an early adoper o open governmen policies and has played an
influenial role in shaping and giving conen o he open governmen and open
daa movemens. a role has coninued under he Obama adminisraion, which
o a greaer exen han any previous U.S. adminisraion has endorsed he concep
o open governmen and encouraged oher naions o do he same. e UniedSaes played a pivoal role in he creaion o he Open Governmen Parnership
and remains a robus advocae o he iniiaive.
Nowihsanding hese imporan conribuions, he U.S. governmen has no
consisenly achieved a level o domesic openness ha is commensurae wih is
prominence in open governmen issues. Alhough he Obama adminisraion has
perormed well in meeing many o he objecives se ou in is naional acion
plans, hose objecives have ended o avor innovaion and procedural reorms
over changes o legal sandards and subsanive oucomes. In addiion, he admin-
israion, like oher OGP paricipans, has made limied progress on enhancing
civic paricipaion in governmen decision-making.
The Obama administration and open government
ransparency and openness in governmen were early prioriies o he Obama
adminisraion. During his firs presidenial campaign, he presiden promised an
unprecedened level o openness and ransparency in his adminisraion.79 One o
he presiden’s firs execuive acions ollowing his inauguraion in January 2009 was o issue he “Memorandum on ransparency and Open Governmen” ha
promised “an unprecedened level o openness in Governmen” anchored on hree
principles: ransparency; collaboraion; and paricipaion.80 is memorandum
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was ollowed in December 2009 by an Open Governmen Direcive rom hen-
Direcor o he Office o Managemen and Budge Peer Orszag, which in urn gave
rise o wha he Whie House now reers o as he Open Governmen Iniiaive, an
umbrella designaion ha encompasses he policies and programs ha were imple-
mened in connecion wih U.S. agencies’ open governmen plans.81
Under he banner o open governmen, he adminisraion pursued a number
o iniiaives during he presiden’s firs wo years in office, such as an execuive
order ha insruced agencies o release more inormaion under FOIA and he
creaion o Daa.gov, a cenralized online plaorm or accessing governmen
daa.82 Many o hese effors subsequenly would be incorporaed ino he Unied
Saes’ firs NAP under OGP.83
Alhough OGP is a ruly mulilaeral exercise, he Obama adminisraion was
a pivoal acor on he inernaional sage in is advocacy or he esablishmen
o OGP, and he parnership is, in significan respecs, an inernaionalizaiono he hree principles o open governmen ha Presiden Obama enumeraed
in his January 2009 memorandum. By he adminisraion’s own elling, a major
impeus or OGP was he presiden’s speech a he 2010 U.N. General Assembly,
during which he exhored world governmens o “bring specific commimens o
promoe ransparency; o figh corrupion; o energize civic engagemen; o lever-
age new echnologies so ha we srenghen he oundaions o reedom in our
own counries.”84 e ollowing summer, hen-Secreary o Sae Hillary Clinon
hosed more han 60 governmens in Washingon, D.C., o lay he groundwork or
he parnership, which launched in November o 2011 wih eigh ounding mem-
ber saes: he Unied Saes; Brazil; Indonesia; he Philippines; Mexico; Norway;
Souh Arica; and he Unied Kingdom.85
Since he creaion o OGP, he Unied Saes has coninued o play an influen-
ial role in he iniiaive. e Unied Saes was a ounding co-chair o he OGP
Seering Commitee, a posiion i held unil a new commitee was eleced in
2014.86 I now holds a sea on he Crieria and Sandards Subcommitee.87 In
addiion, U.S.-based expers and nongovernmenal organizaions are acive on he
civil sociey side o OGP. e curren OGP Seering Commitee and wo o is
subcommitees all include a leas one U.S.-based organizaion.88
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U.S. participation in OGP
e Unied Saes is a paricipan in OGP, as well as an advocae o he iniia-
ive. Overall responsibiliy or he iniiaive is ormally assigned o he U.S.
Deparmen o Sae’s Bureau o Democracy, Human Righs, and Labor. However,
he Execuive Office o he Presidenspecifically he Office o Science andechnology Policyis he official U.S. poin o conac wih OGP and he eniy
responsible or he coordinaion and developmen o NAPs.
e Unied Saes has paricipaed in hree cycles o OGP NAP ormulaion
and implemenaionin 2011, 2013, and 2015he firs wo o which have
now been subjec o IRM review. In is mos recen NAP, which was released in
Ocober 2015 and is currenly undergoing implemenaion, he Unied Saes
proposed 44 commimens, which included new iniiaives as well as expanded
iniiaives rom he previous plan released in 2013.89
All hree o he U.S. acion plans cover a wide range o governmen programs and
policies. Ye he mos recen IRM review suggess ha he adminisraion has no
always been successul in ranslaing hese high-level commimens ino concree
policies ha can subsanially advance he our open governmen principles o
access o inormaion, public accounabiliy, civic paricipaion, and echnological
innovaion. O he 26 commimens in he 2013 acion plan, only wo were ound
o be “ransormaive” by he IRM reviewer. O he remaining 24 commimens,
13 were deemed likely o have “moderae” impac and 11 “minor” impac.90 A he
level o individual milesones, no one was ound o be ransormaive, and 45 o
54 milesones were evaluaed o be o minor impac.
I is imporan o qualiy discussion o hese figures wih he observaion ha even
a horough and imparial review, such as he kind ha was offered by he 2013
IRM reviewer, canno avoid an elemen o subjeciviy, paricularly wih respec o
assessing he likely impac o individual commimens and milesones. aking his
cavea ino accoun, he 2013 IRM reviewer’s findings, along wih broad paterns
in he conen o he acion plans, sill poin o challenges in he domesic imple-
menaion o OGP ha are likely o recur in uure U.S. NAPs and ha reflec
challenges ha oher counries are likely o experience as well.
Firs, he 2013 IRM review reflecs a misalignmen beween he likely impac o
commimens ha were conained in he acion plan and he underlying mile-
sones ha were inended o ulfill hose commimens. For example, neiher o he
commimens raed as ransormaive by he 2013 IRM reviewer is suppored by
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milesones o an equally ransormaive characer. e firs o hese ransormaive
commimens, a pledge o improve ransparency in ederal spending, encompasses
nine milesones, seven o which he IRM reviewer deemed o be o minor impac
and wo o which she ound o be o moderae impac. e second commimen
U.S. paricipaion in a global movemen o increase ransparency in governmen
revenues relaing o he sale or exploiaion o naural resourcesincluded ourmilesones, all o which he reviewer ound o be o moderae impac. In he same
vein, he 13 commimens ha were deemed o be o moderae impac encompassed
34 milesones, 22 o which were ound o be o minor impac and 12 o which were
ound o be o moderae impac. is divergence may reflec he process-ocused
naure o milesones relaive o commimens, which end o be more general and
synheic in characer. Bu meaningul acion on milesones is necessary o achieve
he policy reorms ha are enshrined in commimens.
Second, he NAP appears o avor he goals o echnological innovaion and access
o inormaion over public accounabiliy and civic paricipaion. O he 26 com-mimens ha are conained in he 2013 plan, he reviewer ound ha only wo
were relevan o public accounabiliy and ha 10 were relevan o public parici-
paion, as opposed o 17 ha were relevan o echnological innovaion and 18
ha were relevan o access o inormaion. A he level o individual milesones,
he discrepancy is even sarker: O 54 milesones, only 6 were relaed o accoun-
abiliy and 15 o paricipaion, compared wih 26 relaing o innovaion and 42
relaing o access o inormaion. Nor does i appear ha quaniy is offse by
qualiy: Only 2 o he 15 milesones ha relaed o paricipaion and none o he
milesones ha relaed o accounabiliy were deemed o be o moderae impac;
none were ransormaive. In conras, 10 o he 27 milesones relaing o innova-
ion and 19 o he 42 milesones relaing o access o inormaion were deemed o
be o moderae impac, bu again, none were ransormaive.
ese figures poin oward wo qualiaive paterns in he NAPs ha he Unied
Saes may wish o consider when drafing uure acion plans. Firs, he individual
milesones in he plan avor innovaion and procedural reorms over changes o
legal sandards and subsanive oucomes. For example, all five milesones under
he “Modernize he Freedom o Inormaion Ac” commimen relae o making
he FOIA process more efficien and sandardized across agencies,91
such as crea-ing an online poral or FOIA requess or developing a FOIA e-learning raining
resource.92 Bu none o he milesones explicily address he sandard o FOIA
review, which he presiden has addressed independenly o OGP wih ambiguous
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resuls,93 or examine wheher curren levels o disclosure under FOIA are accep-
able. is patern is repeaed in he 2015 NAP, whichlike he 2013 NAP
ocuses on he user experience o FOIA porals and enhancing access o maerials
ha have already been released or ha are subjec o mandaory disclosure, such
as nonprofi ax filings.94
e second qualiaive patern shows ha mos o he commimens and mile-
sones under he acion plan ha relae o access o inormaion are ocused on
disclosure o economic and budgeary daa or digiizaion o inormaion ha
was already public in an analog orma. By conras, measures ha call or he
disclosure o inormaion ha relaes o curren deense and inelligence acivi-
ies are mosly absen rom he NAPs. One noable excepion is a commimen in
he 2013 NAP o disclose inormaion relaing o he use o oreign-inelligence
surveillance auhoriies, which was broadened in he 2015 NAP o a general com-
mimen o ransparency in he inelligence communiy, including he publicaion
o an Open Governmen Plan or he Inelligence Communiy.95 However, his isclearly a challenging area or he Unied Saes: e IRM reviewer ound ha he
disclosure called or under he 2013 NAP lacked “sandards and specifics,” and he
2015 commimens seem similarly vague, hough i is oo early o weigh in defini-
ively on heir naure and impac.96
ese paterns in he acion plan likely derive in par rom srucural acors.
Responsibiliy or OGP wihin he U.S. governmen is divided beween he U.S.
Sae Deparmen and he Whie House Office o Science and echnology Policy,
neiher o which have comprehensive experise on he ull range o issues ha
OGP aims o address. OSP coordinaes he acion plan developmen process,
which may accoun or he preponderance o echnology-ocused, process-
minded milesones ound in he 2011 and 2013 plans. echnology and daa are
imporan aspecs o paricipaion in he OGP, bu hey are no he only aspecs,
and he selecion o an office ha is saffed wih echnology policy expers may
have led o an emphasis on access o inormaion and innovaion a he expense o
civic paricipaion and public accounabiliy.
Anoher significan srucural acor is he absence o an execuive order or presi-
denial direcive ha requires agencies o paricipae in he acion plan develop-men process or in he implemenaion o he acion plans. Insead, paricipaion
by agencies is volunary. ese permissive condiions, in conjuncion wih OSP’s
relaively low profile and limied budge, have mean ha imporan eniies
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wihin he U.S. governmen ha accoun or a large porion o he ederal budge
and engage in large-scale classificaion and daa collecionsuch as he he U.S.
Deparmen o Deense, he Naional Securiy Agency, and he CIAhave had a
bes a minor role in he realizaion o he Unied Saes’ obligaions under OGP.
Nor have agencies ha did paricipae in OGP implemenaion been required opropose milesones ha are separae rom reorms ha were already planned or
underway or reasons unrelaed o OGP, meaning ha he number o reorms ha
are currenly credied o U.S. paricipaion in OGP are likely oversaed. is poins
o a broader challenge or OGP: e lack o clear causaliy makes impac difficul o
demonsrae. Are counries making reorms because o heir OGP commimens, or
is i simply ha hose naions who wish o be members are already onboard wih he
open governmen movemen and would have insiued reorms regardless?
One o he heories a he ounding o OGP was ha here were reormers wihin
governmens who waned o pursue hese reorms, bu ha an inernaional pla-orm would provide boh normaive pressure and pracical learning opporuniies
hrough peer experience ha would aciliae more, beter, and aser reorms in
open governmen.97 More research is needed o ideniy wheher experience has
borne ou his hypohesis has been borne ou hrough experience.
In ac, aligning NAPs wih broader social and economic rends is imporan i OGP
wans o caalyze ransormaional change. e Unied Saes has made promising
seps in his regard. For example, is mos recen NAP includes commimens o
open police daa and increased ransparency in rade negoiaionsa response o
he high degree o public scruiny ha hese opics have recenly received. 98 Civil
sociey organizaions, or heir par, acknowledged ha he Obama adminisraion
has me “coninually” wih hem regarding many aspecs o NAP developmen and
ormulaion and lauded many o he adminisraion’s commimens, noably is
commimen o he Exracive Indusries ransparency Iniiaive.99 A he same ime,
CSOs also expressed rusraion ha i is no always clear how he adminisraion
incorporaes civil sociey recommendaions ino NAPs and are pressing or a more
“collaboraive and responsive consulaion process.”100
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Recommendations
o encourage coninued engagemen a he highes poliical levels, he Open
Governmen Parnership will need o say conneced o he cuting edge o
inernaional issues so ha i remains relevan in areas ha demand atenion rom
high-level poliical officials. e cross-cuting naure o ransparency, paricipa-
ion, and accounabiliy issues is a poenial srengh o he parnership. OGP
could play a role in he implemenaion o he Susainable Developmen Goals;
parake in he discussion on more ransparency in climae finance; or work o
improve innovaion and accounabiliy in delivering humaniarian assisance inligh o he curren migran crisis.
Wihin he parnership, empowering he Seering Commitee o ac as a champion
and an ambassador o OGP and o engage direcly wih high-level counerpars is
also imporan or mainaining high-level atenion, as is ensuring ha OGP has
a clearly defined and well-conneced home wihin is member governmens. I is
also imporan o make he value o he parnership clear by showing is impac
and resuls while providing a source or peer learning and recogniion. e more
OGP becomes inegraed wih oher global processes and issues, he more i can
remain relevan, bu in doing so, i mus mainain ocus on is core capabiliies.
OGP has he poenial o provide a plaorm o muliply he impac o issues ha
are being discussed in oher orums, such as he G-8, he G-20, he Asia-Pacific
Economic Cooperaion orum, and he Unied Naions.
Paricipaion is an area where he parnership needs more work, especially when
i comes o civil sociey. Recommendaions o improve engagemen wih civil
sociey include srenghening relaionships wih advocaes on he ground in
member counries and improving he ool kis ha are available o civil sociey
reormers. e producs ha OGP currenly produces, such as he IndependenReporing Mechanism progress repors, are o high qualiy bu end o be
lenghy and research oriened. ey should be ranslaed ino ools ha are
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easier o uilize or civil sociey engagemen, wih key messages, alking poins,
various kinds o media oureach opions, and oher conex-specific needs. is
will require srong civil sociey and communicaions eams, which OGP already
has and is in he process o srenghening even more.
o deepen engagemen wih exising members, he parnership should boos ispeer-learning and suppor mechanisms. Alhough here is significan paricipaion
by he working groups in helping o develop naional acion plans, his paricipaion
should be srenghened and made more proacive. Anoher recommendaion ha
would provide value o members is o expand and deepen sraegic parnerships.
OGP has ormed alliances wih our groups ha have pledged suppor o OGP
counries: he World Bank Group, rom which 15 counries received financial and
echnical suppor on heir NAPs; he Iner-American Developmen Bank, which
assised wih NAP implemenaion in Caribbean and Lain American counries; he
Organisaion or Economic Co-operaion and Developmen, which provided ar-
geed echnical suppor o help ineresed counries mee eligibiliy crieria; and heU.N. Developmen Programme, which suppored he implemenaion and consula-
ion processes.101 Deepening hese parnerships and creaing more ormal srucures
or parners o assis OGP memberseiher by region or by uncioncould help
OGP leverage is srenghs and bolser engagemen rom members.
One o he mos obvious ways in which he parnership can seek o have real impac
is hrough meaningul policy reorm, and i will need o demonsrae coninued
resuls on his ron o mainain is relevance as i emerges rom is sar-up period.
e cycle o NAP developmen, implemenaion, and independen review should
be less condensed because he rapid imeline in he curren seupwhere he hree
are ofen overlappingdiscourages counries rom aking he ime o ideniy more
difficul, long-erm issues. Equally, he parnership should encourage he idenifica-
ion o shor-, medium-, and long-erm commimens among members and creae
a raing sysem ha differeniaes hem as such; ha way, counries can be rewarded
or addressing he longer-erm, more difficul challenges.
e IRM is unique or mulilaeral iniiaives, bu is purpose is no clear. I
could be beter uilized o connec reviews o change by requiring member
governmens and civil sociey groups o respond o he IRM reviews, by eiherideniying wha changes hey plan o make in response or explaining areas
where hey may disagree wih he findings. In addiion, he counry conex
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componen o IRM reviews should eaure more prominenly in Seering
Commitee meeings. is would discourage governmens rom using paricipa-
ion in OGP as a means o deflecing broader criicisms abou heir commi-
men o open governmen values and would empower civil sociey o inervene
wih he Seering Commitee in counries where governmens are engaging in
harassmen and inimidaion o he kind alleged in Azerbaijan and Hungary.
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Conclusion
e Open Governmen Parnership is a unique innovaion in global governance
ha has proved ha values o ransparency, paricipaion, and accounabiliy hold
wide appeal. I also has shown ha counries rom various income levels, geo-
graphic regions, and culural conexs can work ogeher oward common aims.
e parnership is reaching a ransiion poin as i eners is fifh year, and i will
need o solidiy is success by ideniying lessons learned rom is firs ew years.
OGP has done well in atracing high-level poliical atenion and simulaing
reorms among members, as well as in spreading global norms. However, i willneed o say on he cuting edge o inernaional issues o remain relevan and no
become a bureaucraic exercise, as well as improve srucures or accounabiliy o
deepen he reorms ha member saes underake. Paricipaion is an area where
he parnership needs o devoe dedicaed atenion o ensure rue collaboraion
and inpu rom ciizens and governmens alike. While he parnership shows grea
promise, his repor highlighs ways or OGP o coninue o grow and flourish as a
model o cross-regional, mulilaeral cooperaion ha encourages more open and
accounable governmens worldwide.
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About the authors
Molly Elgin-Cossart is a Senior Fellow a he Cener or American Progress,
where she works on issues involving oreign policy, inernaional developmen,
and global conflic.
Trevor Sutton is a Nonresiden Fellow wih he Naional Securiy and
Inernaional Policy eam a he Cener, where he ocuses on governance, ranspar-
ency, and developmen issues.
Kathryn Sachs is a ormer Naional Securiy and Inernaional Policy inern a
he Cener.
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43 Center for American Progress | Let the Sunshine In
Acknowledgments
e auhors wan o Annie Malknech, ormer Research Associae wih he
Susainable Securiy and Peacebuilding Iniiaive a he Cener or American
Progress, and James Pooler, cyber securiy inern a he Cener, or heir help in
preparing his repor. ey also wish o hank he Cener’s Ediorial eam or heir valuable conribuion. Finally, he auhors would like o hank Nahaniel Heller o
he Resuls or Developmen Insiue and Joe Powell, Joe Foi, Munyema Hasan,
and J. Preson Whit o he OGP Suppor Uni or heir insigh.
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44 Center for American Progress | Let the Sunshine In
Appendix
Country GDP per capita in USD (2014)
TI Corruption
Perceptions Index
Polity IV
score
Albania $4,619.20 36 9
Argentina $12,922.40 32 8
Armenia $3,646.70 35 5
Azerbaijan $7,884.20 29 -7