Open Government

Chapter 8. Open Government and Open Society

Archon Fung

David Weil

Perhaps more than any other national leader, President Obama has stressed his commitment to “creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government” (see the Appendix A).^[124] His administration has followed up these words with impressive actions—expanding the quality and quantity of data available on USASpending.gov, laying the groundwork for making the economic stimulus and recovery expenditures public, and creating a high-level process—itself conducted in a highly inclusive way—to develop open government policies under the Office of Science and Technology Policy.

Transparency’s Moment?

Complementing these federal initiatives, a host of skilled civic organizations—composed of groups such as Sunlight Foundation, OMB Watch, and the League of Women Voters—now comprise a capable transparency movement that both presses for greater openness in government and develops tools to enable citizens to take advantage of that openness. Coming somewhat later to the issue of transparency, these groups and others have caught the eye of important funders at philanthropies such as the Open Society Institute, the Omidyar Foundation, and the Ford Foundation.

These developments converge in a perfect storm (the good kind) that may in several years result in a federal government that is much more open to public scrutiny than it has ever been. Indeed, this government may in time become more open than any other major government in the world. ...