26 Oct 2016 12:00pm - 2:00pm Seminar room SG2, Alison Richard Building.

Description

Free and open to all but Online Registration is required. Limited places

Public Lecture

Benjamin Worthy (Politics, Birkbeck)

 

Why do governments pass freedom of information laws? The symbolic power and force surrounding FOI makes it appealing as an electoral promise but hard to disengage from once in power. Behind closed doors compromises and manoeuvres ensure that bold policies are seriously weakened before they reach the statute book. This presentation focuses on the battle over the UK's Freedom of Information Act between 1997 and 2000 and then looks at how the paradoxes and the disruptive, dynamic and democratic effects of the law have continued to cause controversy once in operation.

The presentation is based on the forthcoming book Worthy, Ben (2017) ‘The Politics of Freedom of Information: How and Why Governments Pass Laws That Threaten Their Power’. Manchester: MUP. You can visit his blog at https://opendatastudy.wordpress.com/ 

CRASSH is not reponsible for the content of external websites

Please join the mailing list here to receive further information on joining the reading group as well as on the lecture schedule.
 

 

Part of The Politics and Paradoxes of Transparency, Research Group series

Administrative assistance: gradfac@crassh.cam.ac.uk

Upcoming Events

CENTRE FOR RESEARCH IN THE ARTS, SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES

Tel: +44 1223 766886
Email enquiries@crassh.cam.ac.uk