Perceptions on Access to Information and Corruption in Municipal Public Management: Two Sides of the Same Coin

Abstract

This study sought to understand the perceptions of municipal public servants and members of civil society organizations about access to information and corruption, establishing possible relationships between these two themes. For that, the research had as object of study entities of the organized civil society and the executive and legislative powers of the cities of Juiz de Fora and Belo Horizonte, both located in the State of Minas Gerais. In methodological terms, this is a qualitative study based on the content analysis of the interviews carried out. The survey results indicated that access to information is not an ultimate goal, but a guiding thread for the creation of democratic spaces, contributing to the possibility of citizen participation in public decisions that can affect the context in which they live. As a result, the mechanisms of access to information adopted by the analyzed local governments have contributed in a more incisive way to the exercise of social control by organized civil society, and this, indirectly, helps in the fight against corruption.