A Conceptual Framework for Understanding and Measuring The Transparency of Public Policy

Abstract

The covid-19 pandemic has led to government action of a scope unprecedented in peacetime, including in the area of public management, administration, and public policy-making. Government approaches in the covid-19 times have thus become a relevant research issue. However, despite the extensive attention already paid to the concept of transparency in the global public and political discourse as well academic research, we lack a clear framework for measuring the transparency of processes through which public policies, including laws and regulations, are adopted. This paper aims to remedy that, and two innovations are presented. The first one brings together various benefits of the transparency of public administration and public policy processes into a single framework, while the second one presents a conceptual toolbox for measuring the transparency of public policy. The paper illustrates use of the framework through an illustrative example of the passage of the COVID-19 legislation in Slovakia at the beginning of the pandemic, demonstrating that the overall transparency of the policy process in this case was extremely low.