Transparency in public administration as a challenge for a good democratic governance

Abstract

In democratic societies, the transparency of public institutions is essential. Increasingly, developed or developing countries recognize that free access to information is fundamental to democracy. Whether we are talking about the government or the private companies that manage public services, access to the data held by these organizations means increasing accountability and allows citizens to know what these organizations do and what they use public money for. Access to information develops citizens' trust in public institutions, enabling citizens to understand public policy decisions and monitor their implementation. The purpose of our research is to identify the degree of transparency of the ministries in the Romanian Government. The research was based on public data and information identified on the websites of 18 ministries in the current structure of the Romanian Government, but also on data collected using online questionnaires answered by 45 officials from the Information and Documentation Departments of the ministries. The data and information obtained were processed in excel and SPSS. The database was completed with the evaluation reports on the implementation of Law 52/2003 on decisional transparency in the Romanian public administration, from 2017-2020. The results of our research show that ministries have made progress in ensuring administrative transparency. However, administrative transparency remains a challenge for Romanian government ministries. The results obtained are useful and interesting for both the field of knowledge and for ministries to help them identify ways to increase transparency for better democratic governance.