Editing Transparency (behavior) (section)

==Politics==
{{more citations needed section|date=October 2011}}
[[File:Seal of Good Housekeeping plaque Santa Barbara Pangasinan.jpg|thumb|A 2011 [[Commemorative plaque|plaque]] recognizing the municipality of [[Santa Barbara, Pangasinan]] for its "efforts in advancing the principles of [[accountability]] and transparency in [[local governance]]" ]]
The right and the means to examine the process of decision making is known as transparency.
In politics, transparency is used as a means of holding [[official|public officials]] accountable and fighting [[political corruption|corruption]]. When a [[government]]'s meetings are open to the [[Mass media|press]] and the public, its [[budgets]] may be reviewed by anyone, and its laws and decisions are open to discussion, it is seen as transparent. It is not clear however if this provides less opportunity for the authorities to abuse the system for their own interests.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Mattozzi | first1 = Andrea | last2 = Merlo | first2 = Antonio | title = The transparency of politics and the quality of politicians | journal = [[American Economic Review]] | volume = 97 | issue = 2 | pages = 311–315 | doi = 10.1257/aer.97.2.311 | date = May 2007 | url = https://authors.library.caltech.edu/8430/1/MATaer07.pdf }} [http://people.hss.caltech.edu/~andrea/transparency.pdf Pdf.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180309122839/http://people.hss.caltech.edu/~andrea/transparency.pdf |date=2018-03-09 }}</ref>

When military authorities [[classified information|classify]] their plans as secret, transparency is absent. This can be seen as either positive or negative; positive because it can increase [[national security]], negative because it can lead to corruption and, in extreme cases, a [[military dictatorship]].

While a [[liberal democracy]] can be a [[plutocracy]], where decisions are made behind locked doors and the people have fewer possibilities to influence politics between the elections, a [[participative democracy]] is more closely connected to the will of the people.{{citation needed|date=October 2011}} Participative democracy, built on transparency and everyday participation, has been used officially in northern [[Europe]] for decades. In the northern European country [[Sweden]], [[Constitution of Sweden#Public access to governmental documents|public access to government documents]] became a law as early as 1766. It has officially been adopted as an ideal to strive for by the rest of EU, leading to measures like [[Freedom of information laws by country|freedom of information laws]] and [[Lobby register|laws for lobby transparency]].

To promote transparency in [[politics]], [[Hans Peter Martin]], [[Paul van Buitenen]] ([[Europa Transparant]]) and [[Ashley Mote]] decided to cooperate under the name Platform for Transparency (PfT) in 2005. Similar organizations that promotes transparency are [[Transparency International]] and the [[Sunlight Foundation]].

A recent political movement to emerge in conjunction with the demands for transparency is the [[Pirate Party]], a label for a number of political parties across different countries who advocate freedom of information, direct democracy, network neutrality, and the free sharing of knowledge.