Let the Sunshine In: An Assessment of the Open Government Partnership

8/19/2019 Let the Sunshine In: An Assessment of the Open Government Partnership

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Let the Sunshine In

An Assessment of the Open Government Partnership

By Molly Elgin-Cossart, Trevor Sutton, and Kathryn Sachs March 2016


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Let the Sunshine InAn Assessment of the Open Government Partnership

By Molly Elgin-Cossart, Trevor Sutton, and Kathryn Sachs March 2016


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1 Introduction and summary

5 Findings

9 OGP membership and governance structure

12 Assessing progress

27 Challenges

32 The role of the United States in OGP

38 Recommendations

41 Conclusion

42 About the authors

44 Appendix

50 Endnotes

Contents


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1 Center for American Progress | Let the Sunshine In

Introduction and summary

“In the 21st century, the United States is convinced that one o the most sig-

nificant divisions among nations will not be north/south, east/west, religious,

or any other category so much as whether they are open or closed societies. We

believe that countries with open governments, open economies, and open societies

will increasingly flourish. Tey will become more prosperous, healthier, more

secure, and more peaceul.” 1

Former Secretary o State Hillary Clinton, Open Government Partnership open-ing session, April 2012

“… [W]herever feedom and human rights spread, partners or our nation

are born.” 2

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Council on Foreign Relations event, May 2015

I is emping o hink ha in a globalized, inerconneced world, values such as

democracy, human righs, and reedom would naurally converge. Insead, here

is divergence, wih some counries becoming more open and inclusive and ohers

more closed.3 e pas ew years, especially, have seen he growing repression o

civil sociey by auhoriarian leaders.4 Repressive regimes block Inerne aciviies;

conrol online conen; and use he Inerne and mobile communicaions o rack,

arge, harass, and prosecue aciviss.5

Shifs in geopoliical power oward governmens such as Chinahose ha

embrace illiberal models and narrow space or civil socieyhave challenged

he spread o norms such as openness and paricipaion.6 Crackdowns in Russia,

Hungary, Venezuela, and many oher places show an alarming suppression o ree-dom o expression and a resurgence o auhoriarianism.7 Ye in he mids o his

seeming rerenchmen, a promising iniiaive has shown ha he global appeie

or ransparen, paricipaory, and accounable governmens remains unsaiaed.


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e Open Governmen Parnership, or OGPwhich “aims o secure concree

commimens rom governmens o promoe ransparency, empower ciizens,

figh corrupion, and harness new echnologies o srenghen governance”8was

esablished in 2011 by eigh counries and has since grown o include 69 coun-

ries.9 Counry paricipaion is no limied o he acions o governmens and pub-

lic officialsi exends o civil sociey, which is inended o play a cenral role inhe developmen and implemenaion o open governmen reorms under OGP.

Countries participating in OGP

Albania

Argentina

Armenia

Australia

Azerbaijan

Bosnia and

Herzegovina

Brazil*

Bulgaria

Cape Verde

Canada

Chile

Colombia

Costa Rica

Croatia

Czech Republic

Denmark

Dominican Republic

El Salvador

Estonia

Finland

France

Georgia

Ghana

Greece

Guatemala

Honduras

Hungary

Indonesia

Ireland

Israel

Italy

Ivory Coast

Jordan

Kenya

Latvia

Liberia

Lithuania

Macedonia

Malawi

Malta

Mexico

Moldova

Mongolia

Montenegro

Netherlands

New Zealand

Norway

Panama

Papua New Guinea

Paraguay

Peru

Philippines

Romania

Serbia

Sierra Leone

Slovakia

South Africa

South Korea

Spain

Sri Lanka

Sweden

Tanzania

Trinidad and Toba

Tunisia

Turkey

Ukraine

United Kingdom

United States

Uruguay

* Bolded names denote founding members.10


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Member counries are remarkably diverse in erms o geography, culure, and

levels o economic developmen. A global summi ha convened in Ocober

2015 in Mexico Ciy marked he beginning o he parnership’s fifh year and an

imporan ransiion poin.11

OGP is an innovaive model o global cooperaion. As a volunary iniiaive,i brings ogeher governmens and civil sociey and harnesses he combined

power o domesic and inernaional policy reorm mechanisms. e parnership

has been able o creae a global movemen on an incredibly small budge: oal

adminisraive coss, including unding or independen exper reviews o mem-

ber-counry paricipaion, were less han $3.4 million in 2014 and less han $2.5

million in 2013.12 Civil sociey represenaives comprise hal o he 22-member

Open Governmen Parnership Seering Commitee ha governs OGP, osering

an equal alliance beween civil sociey and governmens.

OGP creaes plaorms or boh domesic and inernaional policy reorms.rough naional acion plans, or NAPswhich creae paricipaory processes

ha draw on boh governmen and civil sociey sakeholders in every member

naion and generae commimens designed o advance open governmen val-

ueshe parnership creaes a domesic plaorm o which governmens can be

held accounable. is accounabiliy is achieved in significan par hrough he

buil-in Independen Reporing Mechanism, or IRM, under which paricipaing

OGP governmens agree o have heir NAPs reviewed by independen hird-pary

expers. e parnership also creaes a global plaorm or reormers rom boh

civil sociey and governmen o showcase innovaion and progress, share lessons

learned, and generae conversaions abou how o navigae he shared challenges

o good governance.13

e model is hus dependen upon high-level poliical commimens, peer pres-

sure, repuaional accounabiliy, and he engagemen o civil sociey in achieving

is aims. is approach sands ou rom radiional approaches o spreading values

such as ransparency and good governance ha rely upon inernaional law; nam-

ing and shaming; or oher leverage, such as developmen assisance or rade. e

parnership is sill in is early days, making i difficul o ully assess is impac over

he medium o long erm. I is possible, however, o conduc an iniial analysisha can provide nascen indicaions o wha is working and where improvemens

are needed. In his repor, he Cener or American Progress idenifies hree main

pahways or impac and assesses OGP’s progress in:


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1. Shaping norms and poliical commimens

2. Simulaing broad and deep paricipaion in good governance

3. Caalyzing domesic policy reorm

e repor concludes wih a review o he role o he Unied Saes in he ound-

ing and uure o he parnership and provides recommendaions o help he

parnership maximize is poenial and or he Unied Saes o coninue o play a

cenral role in is developmen.


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Findings

In evaluaing he Open Governmen Parnership’s progress in advancing he aims

o open governmens, he Cener or American Progress looked o he scope, qual-

iy, and durabiliy o member-counry paricipaion. Much o he analysis is drawn

rom OGP daa on he measures ha individual counries have aken o qualiy or

and paricipae in he parnership, in paricular he qualiy o commimens pu

orward in counries’ individual naional acion plans. CAP compared hese daa

wih oher relevan daa on counries’ economic developmen and geography, as

well as heir rankings on oher open governmen and ransparency indices. CAPalso examined he scale and breadh o civil sociey consulaion underaken by

paricipaing governmens and reviewed specific cases o backsliding and non-

compliance. e findings, summarized below, poin no only o OGP’s innova-

ive characer and he srongarguably universalappeal o open governmen

principles bu also o he challenges o ranslaing high-level commimen o hose

principles ino concree reorms wih lasing impac.

Wealthier societies are no more ambitious

than less wealthy societies

ere is no correlaion beween a counry’s gross domesic produc, or GDP,

per capia and is percenage o ambiious commimens in OGP. Poorer OGP

member counries are jus as likely as wealhier ones o have ambiious, ransor-

maive plans or ransparency and paricipaion. is analysis defines “ambiious”

counry commimens as hose ha are specific, are significan in heir poenial

impac, are relevan o OGP’s principles, and show progress in implemenaion.14

Some examples o ambiious commimens using his definiion include Ireland’s

commimen o hold hree reerenda on he Irish Consiuional Convenion,including one on marriage equaliy; Georgia’s commimen o proacively publish

surveillance daa; and Chile’s commimen o implemen and monior an ac on

lobbying.15 CAP’s analysis ound ha GDP per capia is no a srong driver o per-

ormanceas defined by share o commimens ha are ambiiousin he par-


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nership, which bolsers OGP’s ounding concep ha no group o counries has a

monopoly on openness and innovaion. I also reues he conenion ha open

governmen is a value o Wesern or rich counries; he realiy is ha he concep

has broader appeal. In ac, he op perormers in OGP, as raed by highes share o

ambiious commimens, reflec a wide diversiy o naions rom differen regions,

income levels, and culures. (see able 3)

OGP member country performance indicates

a crawl—not a race—to the top

e Open Budge Index, or OBI, is a ranking o world governmens according o

he ransparency and accessibiliy o heir budgeing processes and is also one o

he merics used o esablish eligibiliy or OGP membership. Beween 2012 and

2015, he average OBI raing or OGP counries increased rom approximaely

57 o 59 on a 100-poin scale.16 is increase poenially lends suppor o he ideaha counries coninue o make progress afer hey have joined, as par o he

OGP model o creaing a race o he op. However, non-OGP member counries

showed a greaer increase over he same ime period, improving rom an average

o approximaely 32 o 36, an improvemen o more han 12 percen.17 Perhaps

his is because hey sared a an overall lower poin on he scale, or perhaps he

parnership is influencing nonmember counries as well by creaing global norms

around openness and ransparency.

The partnership is st il l select ive

Alhough OGP is mean o provide a relaively low bar o enry and encourage a

race o he op, OGP members areon averagewealhier, more ransparen,

and more democraic han heir non-OGP peers.18

There is a lot of work to do to make NAP

development processes truly participatory

Civic paricipaionalong wih access o inormaion, public accounabiliy, and

echnological innovaionis one o he our open governmen principles ha

OGP member counries are expeced o advance hrough heir paricipaion in

he parnership. o his end, counries are expeced o consul wih civil sociey in


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he developmen o heir NAPs. Ye many OGP members sruggle o ensure ha

heir NAP processes are sufficienly consulaive.19 Only 39 percen o civil sociey

paricipans in he NAP developmen process el ha heir inpus were refleced

in he final published plans.20

The partnership is st il l predominantly a European

and Latin American and Caribbean enterprise

While OGP is diverse rom an economic developmen perspecive, i is less so

geographically. Asia and Arica are less represened, given he number o counries

wihin heir regions. is patern reflecs he challenges o creaing a global par-

nership based on principles and values.

Clear lines of responsibility and connections todomestic policy reform are crucial elements of success

An iniial analysis o he effec o OGP’s insiuional home wihin member coun-

ries on counry perormance indicaes ha counries ha ail o engage domesic

policy reormers may compromise heir perormance. e op 10 perormers, in

erms o ambiious commimens, have a diversiy o insiuional arrangemens

or OGP wihin heir governmens. However, among botom perormershose

wih he lowes share o ambiious commimenswo rends emerge: Firs, i is

ofen unclear in which specific insiuional home wihin governmens he OGP

resides. Second, he pluraliy o lowes-perorming counries house heir OGP

poins o conac wihin oreign affairs offices. Given ha oreign affairs minisries

are no generally well-conneced o he processes o domesic poliical reorm and

implemenaion, i is perhaps no surprising ha hese naions perormed worse

han heir peers, since OGP connecs global and domesic policy reorm.21

Reviews are not clearly connected to policy changes

e IRM provides solid analyses o each counry’s NAP, bu here is no clear mech-

anism ha holds counries accounable or addressing he deficiencies and imbal-

ances idenified by he reviewer. More broadly, he inended purpose o he IRM

is ambiguous. I is unclear who is supposed o use he IRM o drive urher reorm

and wheher poor perormance in an IRM review could resul in adverse conse-


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quences or a paricipaing governmen, such as suspension rom OGP. us ar,

he cleares value offered by he IRM process rom an accounabiliy perspecive

has been in giving civil sociey a basis or raising concerns direcly wih he OGP

Seering Commitee in siuaions where member governmens are acing inconsis-

enly wih open governmen values, as seen recenly in Hungary and Azerbaijan.

The United States was instrumental in the creation

of OGP, but its own progress has been uneven

Presiden Barack Obama’s adminisraion made advancing open governmen

a prioriy during he presiden’s firs erm in office and played a cenral role in

esablishing OGP. Despie he adminisraion’s inernaional prominence as an

advocae o open governmen principles, is domesic paricipaion in OGP has

allen shor o is poenial in some areas. While he Obama adminisraion has

made significan srides in improving access o inormaion and echnologicalinnovaion, i has been less successul in ranslaing oher OGP valuesspecifi-

cally public accounabiliy and civic paricipaionino meaningul, concree

commimens. In addiion, he high-level commimens conained in he plans

are ofen suppored by individual policy milesones ha are less ambiious han

he commimens hemselves.

Furhermore, he volunary naure o agency paricipaion in OGP has mean

ha imporan acors wihin he U.S. governmenmos noably he inelligence

communiy and he U.S. Deparmen o Deensehave made limied conribu-

ions o he U.S. plans.


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OGP membership and

governance structure

Eligibiliy or paricipaion in he Open Governmen Parnership is deermined by

a counry’s perormance in our areas: fiscal ransparency; access o inormaion;

public officials’ asse disclosure; and ciizen engagemen. OGP assesses hese cri-

eria o produce a composie eligibiliy score.22 e crieria are relaively inclusive;

here are 100 counries eligible o become members o OGP, 31 o which have

chosen no o join.23 e crieria also are also no inended o be overly resricive;

as o his wriing, only wo counriesunisia and Papua New Guineahave

moved rom eligible o ineligible, and as OGP members, hey have one year oaddress his reversal.24 o join, eligible counries commi o uphold he principles

o he Open Governmen Declaraion.25

Alhough he model o OGP is mean o provide a relaively low bar or enry and

hen encourage a race o he op, he parnership is sill selecive. A ew summary

saisics make i clear ha OGP members rank highly on several key inernaional

indices: No surprisingly, perhaps, OGP members are, on average, wealhier and

more democraic han heir non-OGP peers. e GDP per capia o OGP mem-

ber counries is, on average, 52 percen higher han ha o non-OGP counries. In

addiion, OGP counries scored an average o 11 poins higher on ransparency

Inernaional’s Corrupion Percepions Index. Finally, OGP counries had a higher

Poliy IV scorehe Cener or Sysemic Peace’s daa series ha measures he

level o democracy in independen saeshan nonmembers.26

TABLE 1

Average profile of Open Government Parternship countries vs.Non-Open Government Parternship countries

Based on GDP per capita, corruption perceptions, and political characteristics

GDP per capita in

U.S. dollars, 2014

Transparency

International index Polity IV

OGP $17,569.73 49.9 8.1

Non-OGP $12,026.60 38.1 2

Source: Based on authors’ calculations. Data available in Appendix I.


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Member counries mus draf individual naional acion plans ha conain discree

objecives o be compleed over a wo-year period and issue periodic repors ha

measure heir progress under he plans. Member counries have wide flexibiliy in

designing heir plans, which is appropriae or such a diverse group, bu he com-

mimens conained in he plans mus perain o he principles o ransparency,

accounabiliy, paricipaion, and echnology and innovaion. Each commimenmus be assigned o a lead implemening agency and should correspond o one

or more specific OGP “grand challenges”: improving public services; increasing

public inegriy; effecively managing public resources; creaing saer communiies;

and increasing corporae accounabiliy.27 e process o developing hese plans is

mean o be highly inclusive and o include inpu rom a broad base o civil sociey.

Counries hen repor on heir progress a he end o each year o implemenaion.

In addiion o sel-reporing, member governmens submi o an Independen

Reporing Mechanism review, which evaluaes he qualiy o he counry’s commi-

mens in relaion o OGP’s values, he compleion o hose commimens, and oheraspecs o he NAPs’ success or ailure. is independen review is unique among

mulilaeral organizaions, which generally rely only upon sel-reporing or peer

review. IRM progress repors are carried ou by independen researchers under he

guidance o is Inernaional Exper Panel. Researchers underake consulaive pro-

cesses in each counry o review each governmen’s progress, including consulaions

wih civil sociey. e IRM is inended o provide independen, credible evidence

and consrucive suggesions or member counries’ nex NAP cycles.28

During is Sepember 2014 meeing, he OGP Seering Commitee esablished

a new response policy in an effor o address he cleares violaions o Open

Governmen Declaraion principles. Civil sociey organizaions, or CSOs, helped

promp his change by raising concerns abou pracices occurring in heir coun-

ries. e new policy has wo aims: 1) o “assis he counry in quesion o over-

come difficulies and o help re-esablish an environmen or governmen and civil

sociey collaboraion” and 2) o “saeguard he Open Governmen Declaraion

and miigae repuaional risks o OGP.”29 Several groupsSeering Commitee

members, OGP mulilaeral parners, working group leaders, and civil sociey

organizaionscan rigger an OGP invesigaion by presening a leter deailing

heir concerns o he Seering Commitee as a whole.

Overseeing he eligibiliy review, he adequacy o counry acion plans, and he

qualiy o IRM repors is a governing adminisraive srucure ha seeks o balance

regional and sakeholder diversiy. A he op o his srucure is he OGP Seering

Commitee, which is composed o equal numbers o roaing represenaives rom


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member governmens and civil sociey. Governmens ha seek o appoin a rep-

resenaive o he Seering Commitee should provide “leadership by example or

OGP in erms o domesic commimens, acion plan progress, paricipaion in he

annual conerence, and oher inernaional opporuniies o promoe open govern-

men.”30 All OGP member counries voe or new Seering Commitee members in

elecions ha are organized and run by an independen elecions firm.31

A specialcommitee composed o CSOs elecs he civil sociey represenaives.32 A leas

one and no more han our governmen members mus come rom each o he our

geographic regions: Asia; Arica; he Americas; and Europe.

Under he Seering Commitee are hree sanding subcommitees ha deal wih

governance and leadership, crieria and sandards, and peer learning and suppor,

respecively. ese subcommitees are in urn suppored by he OGP Suppor

Uni, which uncions as a kind o lean secrearia offering boh experise and

adminisraive assisance and liaises requenly wih individual governmens. In

conras o he large bureaucracies ha suppor many mulilaeral iniiaives, heOGP Suppor Uni is relaively small, wih jus more han 20 saff members and

a budge o $3.4 million in 2014 o suppor 66 counries worldwide.33 Funding

comes boh rom member-counry conribuions and philanhropies. e Suppor

Uni’s mos significan responsibiliies include managing OGP’s exernal branding

and communicaion; mediaing beween governmens and CSOs; and providing

OGP paricipans wih ools, resources, and relaionships on which hey can draw

o ulfill heir responsibiliies under he parnership, including an exensive daa-

base o elecronic resources. ogeher, he subcommitees and he Suppor Uni

provide a permanen inrasrucure o enhance Seering Commitee oversigh and

o improve he conribuions o individual governmens.34

A final, innovaive eaure o OGP is is aciliaion o a sysem o peer-o-peer

suppor and advice. Wih assisance rom he Suppor Uni, paricipaing govern-

mens and CSOs have ormed working groups ha are organized around common

hemes in NAPs. ese working groups creae inormal conacs beween civil

servans who are working on he same issues in differen jurisdicions, providing a

channel or knowledge ranser beween governmens and nongovernmenal orga-

nizaions, or NGOs, ha have well-developed open governmen inrasrucure

and hose ha are saring rom a more rudimenary baseline. ese ineracionshave included advice on drafing asse disclosure laws, ree exchange o compuer

code or open daa purposes, and uorials on engaging civil sociey.


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Assessing progress

How has his innovaive atemp “o promoe ransparency, empower ciizens,

figh corrupion, and harness new echnologies o srenghen governance”35

ared in our years? e parnership aces an imporan ransiion period over

he nex ew years, wih new co-chairs, a new sraegic plan, a new execuive

direcor, and leadership ransiions in several o is ounding counries, includ-

ing he Unied Saes.36 In his period o ransiion, an assessmen o where he

parnership sands can shed ligh on how o successully consolidae progress

and manage he changes ahead.

o assess Open Governmen Parnership success, his repor draws upon a basic

heory o wha a mulisakeholder iniiaive can accomplish, OGP’s own sae-

mens, and is 2015–2018 sraegic plan o ideniy and analyze hree main ways in

which he parnership can have an impac:

1. Shaping norms and poliical commimen

2. Simulaing broad and deep paricipaion in good governance

3. Caalyzing domesic policy reorm

Shaping norms and political commitment

e parnership has he power o shape global norms. Begun a he highes

poliical level wih he involvemen o heads o sae, OGP has demonsraed

is appeal by atracing a wide range o counries ha represen a large share o

he global populaion. Member counries can bolser each oher’s reorm efforsand help galvanize poliical suppor or broader openness and ransparency

reorms in oher processes and orums, as seen in he ormulaion o he global

Susainable Developmen Goals.37


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o coninue o do so, however, he parnership will need o mainain high-level

poliical atenion. Alhough i is difficul o quaniy, here are some iniial indica-

ions o how OGP is aring on his ron.

OGP has received very high-level atenion in member governmens’ official

saemens. A limied survey reveals several reerences rom heads o sae andgovernmens: A join saemen rom he Unied Saes and he Czech Republic

menioned OGP as a plaorm or ransparency in 2011; U.K. Prime Miniser

David Cameron menioned OGP as a plaorm or ransparency a he U.K.-

hosed G-8 summi in 2013; Presiden Obama, joining Kenyan Presiden Uhuru

Kenyata a he Global Enrepreneurship Summi in 2015, spoke o OGP as a

way o “promoe he rule o law”; and Norh American leaders expressed suppor

a a 2014 meeing where he prime miniser o Canada and he presidens o

Mexico and he Unied Saes called OGP an example o “collecive soluions o

global challenges.”38 Alhough hese commens are anecdoal, suppor rom he

highes levels is key o making OGP he ocal poin or openness and ranspar-ency and coninuing o shape global norms.

e power o shape norms no only affecs member counries bu also lends

srengh o he global movemen or ransparency and ani-corrupion. ereore,

he parnership may indirecly influence nonmembers as well. Indeed, while OGP

member counries sar ou wih a higher overall average on he Inernaional

Budge Parnership’s Open Budge Indexone o he eligibiliy crieria or join-

ing OGPand showed improvemen beween 2012 and 2015 in heir scores,

non-OGP counries acually showed a ar greaer improvemen in heir rankings

on he OBI during he same ime rame. is could reflec a lower saring poin,

an increasingly global movemen oward ransparency and open budges ha

OGP helps simulae, or boh. is canno be direcly atribued o OGP, bu i is

worh exploring his rend urher and examining poenial hypoheses o beter

undersand he mechanisms by which he movemen or openness works.


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TABLE 2

Have Open Government Partnership members shown improvedperformance since joining?

Change in Open Budget Index between 2012 and 2015

OGP countries by

GDP per capita OBI 2012 OBI 2015 Change

Percentage

change

Dominican Republic 29 51 22 75.86%

Romania 47 75 28 59.57%

Philippines 48 64 16 33.33%

Sierra Leone 39 52 13 33.33%

Peru 58 75 17 29.31%

El Salvador 43 53 10 23.26%

Italy 60 73 13 21.67%

Azerbaijan 42 51 9 21.43%

Serbia 39 47 8 20.51%

Georgia 55 66 11 20.00%

Argentina 50 59 9 18.00%

Mexico 61 66 5 8.20%

Costa Rica 50 54 4 8.00%

Brazil 73 77 4 5.48%

Sweden 84 87 3 3.57%

United States 79 81 2 2.53%

Ghana 50 51 1 2.00%

Norway 83 84 1 1.20%

Bulgaria 65 65 0 0.00%

Macedonia 35 35 0 0.00%

Mongolia 51 51 0 0.00%

Colombia 58 57 -1 -1.72%

Kenya 49 48 -1 -2.04%

Tanzania 47 46 -1 -2.13%

Jordan 57 55 -2 -3.51%

South Africa 90 86 -4 -4.44%

Indonesia 62 59 -3 -4.84%

New Zealand 93 88 -5 -5.38%

Spain 63 58 -5 -7.94%

Czech Republic 75 69 -6 -8.00%

Guatemala 51 46 -5 -9.80%


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OGP countries by


Percentage

change

Trinidad and Tobago 38 34 -4 -10.53%

Liberia 43 38 -5 -11.63%

Turkey 50 44 -6 -12.00%

Chile 66 58 -8 -12.12%

Croatia 61 53 -8 -13.11%

South Korea 75 65 -10 -13.33%

United Kingdom 88 75 -13 -14.77%

Ukraine 54 46 -8 -14.81%

Slovakia 67 57 -10 -14.93%

Honduras 53 43 -10 -18.87%

Albania 47 38 -9 -19.15%

Non-OGP countries by


Percentage

change

Benin 1 45 44 4400.0%

Zambia 4 39 35 875.0%

Rwanda 8 36 28 350.0%

Cameroon 10 44 34 340.0%

Senegal 10 43 33 330.0%

Niger 4 17 13 325.0%

Yemen 11 34 23 209.1%

Kyrgyz Republic 20 54 34 170.0%

Fiji 6 15 9 150.0%

Democratic Republic of the Congo 18 39 21 116.7%

Burkina Faso 23 43 20 87.0%

Zimbabwe 20 35 15 75.0%

Ecuador 31 50 19 61.3%

Nigeria 16 24 8 50.0%

Tajikistan 17 25 8 47.1%

Algeria 13 19 6 46.2%

Bolivia 12 17 5 41.7%

Chad 3 4 1 33.3%

China 11 14 3 27.3%

Egypt 13 16 3 23.1%

Malaysia 39 46 7 17.9%

Thailand 36 42 6 16.7%

Timor-Leste 36 41 5 13.9%


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Non-OGP countries by


Percentage

change

Nicaragua 42 46 4 9.5%

Poland 59 64 5 8.5%

Mali 43 46 3 7.0%

Kazakhstan 48 51 3 6.3%

Portugal 62 64 2 3.2%

Germany 71 71 0 0.0%

Morocco 51 51 0 0.0%

Russia 74 74 0 0.0%

Sao Tome and Principe 29 29 0 0.0%

Papua New Guinea 56 55 -1 -1.8%

Bangladesh 58 56 -2 -3.4%

Uganda 65 62 -3 -4.6%

Vietnam 19 18 -1 -5.3%

Angola 28 26 -2 -7.1%

Slovenia 74 68 -6 -8.1%

France 83 76 -7 -8.4%

Bosnia and Herzegovina 50 43 -7 -14.0%

Sri Lanka 46 39 -7 -15.2%

Namibia 55 46 -9 -16.4%

Mozambique 47 38 -9 -19.1%

Iraq 4 3 -1 -25.0%

Pakistan 58 43 -15 -25.9%

Afghanistan 59 42 -17 -28.8%

India 68 46 -22 -32.4%

Nepal 44 24 -20 -45.5%

Cambodia 15 8 -7 -46.7%

Venezuela 37 8 -29 -78.4%

Lebanon 33 2 -31 -93.9%

Saudi Arabia 1 0 -1 -100.0%

Sources: Author’s calculations based on Open Government Partnership, “OGP Explorer,” available at http://www.opengovpartnership.org/ explorer/all-data.html (last accessed February 2016); International Budget Partnership, “Open Budget Index Rankings,” available at http://

internationalbudget.org/opening-budgets/open-budget-initiative/open-budget-survey/publications-2/rankings-key-findings/rankings/ (last

accessed February 2016).

Note: OGP member countries without available OBI data were omitted.


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OGP is no inended o serve as an endorsemen o success bu raher a moivaor,

using incenives and peer pressure rom he OGP nework o encourage a race o

he op. e assumpion is no ha each counry has achieved perec openness

bu ha i has shown sufficien ineres in ataining i, as indicaed by he eligibil-

iy requiremens. e ramework o OGP helps member counries ake acions o

urher ha ineres by creaing a plaorm or reormers boh inside and ousidegovernmen o bring abou change.39

e number o applicaions o he Open Governmen Awards, which seek o show-

case how open governmen iniiaives have resuled in concree improvemens in

paricular areas, declined slighly in 2015 relaive o is inaugural year in 2014no

significanly, bu he decline may poin o less enhusiasm among members.40 is

could poenially indicae ha he race-o-he-op elemen o he parnership is no

atracing enough high-level atenion, or i could merely indicae less atenion a

lower levels o governmen. Recognizing significan achievemens hrough hese

awards, however, is an imporan elemen o he posiive reinorcemen mecha-nisms o he parnership and deserves more atenion. As currenly consruced, he

awards are no based upon perormance or policy reorm wihin OGP bu insead

on relaed areas in order o spoligh innovaion. Broadening he awards crieria o

also include perormance on OGP principles is one way o boos counries’ ineres

in making progress on open governmen commimens.

Where counries choose o insiuionalize OGP wihin heir governmens may be

anoher indicaion o wha kind o atenion he iniiaive is receiving. Each naion

is required o designae a poin o conac o liaise beween he OGP members, he

Suppor Uni, and heir domesic OGP effors. Among he op 10 perormers, here

is a diversiy o insiuional homes wihin heir respecive member governmens,

hough OGP resides mosly in execuive, civic engagemen, or planning and budge-

ing offices, all o which are closely ied o a counry’s leadership and resources. 41

Among he lowes perormers, wo rends emerge. Firs, i is ofen unclear where

he specific insiuional home resides wihin a governmen. is lack o clar-

iy may be eiher a sympom or a cause o naions perorming poorly, or boh.

I could be ha counries ha are less commited o OGP and is principles pay

less atenion o which eniy becomes he poin o conac; i could also be hacounries ha appoin an agency ha is no properly srucured or or engaged

direcly wih ransparency, civic engagemen, and ani-corrupion do no deliver

as effecively. A second patern is ha among he lowes perormers, he plural-

iy o counries house heir OGP poins o conac wihin oreign affairs offices.


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Given ha oreign affairs minisries are no generally well-conneced o he

processes o domesic poliical reorm, i is hardly surprising ha hese naions

have no perormed as well, because OGP is inended o connec global and

domesic policy reorm. While oreign minisries are excellen a connecing wih

he inernaional aspec o he parnership, hey may be unable o connec as well

wih domesic reorm effors.

Anoher indicaor o high-level atenion specified by he OGP Suppor Uni is

he atendance o high-level governmen officials a OGP evens. By ha score,

he parnership is doing airly well, wih solid numbers o heads o sae atending

he global summis and wih miniserial-level atendance a regional summis.42

e key quesion is how o mainain his high level o atenion, especially as he

ounding members shif ou o leadership posiions.

Recent high-level engagement on OGP

The following is a partial summary of recent OGP events attended by heads of state and

senior officials.

At recent OGP biannual summits:

• London 2013: 4 heads of state and ministers, deputy ministers, under secretaries

and secretaries from 31 OGP countries43

• U.N. General Assembly 2014: 10 heads of state and 30 ministers44

At recent OGP annual meetings:

• Bali 2014: 1 head of state and 11 ministers from 10 OGP countries45

• Dublin 2014: 7 ministers46

• Costa Rica 2014: an estimated 15 ministers47

• Tanzania 2015: 1 head of state and 7 ministers, mainly from Tanzania48


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Overall, OGP looks o be doing well on high-level poliical engagemen, hough

noably some o he saemens o suppor and atendance rom high-level figures

may begin o wane as he iniial ounding member counries shif ou o leadership

posiions on he OGP Seering Commitee and as elecions in member counries

bring leadership changes ha may affec governmens’ enhusiasm or engagemen.

Stimulating broad and deep participation

e mos recen our-year sraegy documen issued by he OGP Suppor Uni

observed ha he parnership’s perormance “has surpassed mos expecaions

or wha OGP could achieve in such a shor ime rame and wih such a mod-

es invesmen o resources.”49 ere is considerable ruh o his saemen. In

ewer han our years, OGP has developed ino a ruly global movemen. Sixy-

six counries ha span six coninens and comprise more han one-hird o he

global populaion have joined OGP. is number represens an impressive 70percen o eligible counries.

rough OGP, one-hird o he world’s governmens, including many governmens

wih mixed rack records on ransparency, have publicly endorsed he principles o

openness, accounabiliy, paricipaion, and access o inormaion and commited o

acions ha will urher hose principles in ron o heir own ciizens. Such promises

srenghen he posiion o civic groups advocaing or greaer ransparency.

One o he mos ineresing innovaions o OGP is ha, in he words o Jorge

Hagea ounder and hen-miniser o sae and head o he Office o he

Comproller General o Brazilin 2013, “No disincion is made beween

developed or emerging counries and underdeveloped or economically mod-

es naions.”50 As he social, culural, and economic diversiy o OGP parici-

pans coninues o increase, i is becoming clearer ha ransparency and open

governmen principles are universal values ha can be adaped o a wide range

o poliical environmens. In ac, Jeremy Weinsein, who was par o he U.S.

governmen eam in OGP’s early days, noed ha much o he innovaion in

promoing open governmen occurs in developing counries and ha developed

counries have much o learn rom hem.51

A simple analysis o he commimens under he acion plans demonsraes ha

poorer counries are no less likely han richer counries o make poenially rans-

ormaive commimens and see hem hrough. (see Figure 1) In ac, i is ofen

developing counries ha are leading he way: O he counries wih he highes


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percenage o ambiious commimenshose commimens wih he highes

poenial or ransormaion ha are acually being mewo emerging econo-

mies, Croaia and Uruguay, come ou on op.52 is shif away rom a developed-

developing counry dynamic is one o he more inriguing aspecs o OGP. o he

exen ha here is a common hread among he op perormers, i is ha hey are

in neiher he op nor he botom quarile o global rankings o per capia GDP,

suggesing ha OGP’s greaes value may be in providing a ramework and impe-

us or change in saes a an inermediae sage o economic developmen.53

FIGURE 1

Is there a correlation between GDP and ambitious commitments?

Source: Author's calculations are based on Open Government Partnership, "OGP Explorer," available at

http://www.opengovpartnership.org/explorer/all-data.html (last accessed February 2016).

Note: Most recent GDP per capita data were taken in 2013. OGP members with reviews that will be released in March 2016 wereommitted due to lack of data. For the purposes of this analysis, the authors categorize ambitious commitments as those that are

specific, are significant in their potential impact, are relevant to OGP’s principles, and show progress in implementation. This is differentfrom the Independent Reporting Mechanism methodology for assessing starred commitments.

GDP per capita in U.S. dollars, 2014

Percentage categorized ambitious

0 $10,000 $20,000 $30,000 $40,000 $50,000 $60,0000%

20%

40%

60%

80%


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TABLE 3

Who are the top and bottom performers?

Top 10 performing countries by percentage of ambitious commitments

Ambitious c ommitments Total c ommitments

Bottom 10 performers by percentage of ambitious commitments

Ambitious commitments Total commitments

* Note: Montenegro and Guatemala tied for 10th worst performer in terms of percentage of ambitious commitments. For the purposes of this analysis, the authors categorize ambitious

commitments as those that are specific, are significant in their potential impact, are relevant to OGP’s principles, and show progress in implementation.

Source: Author’s calculations based on Open Government Partnership, “OGP Explorer,” available at http://www.opengovpartnership.org/explorer/all-data.html (last accessed February 2016

Percentage categorized ambit

Percentage categorized ambit

Croatia

Uruguay

Bulgaria

Liberia

Colombia

Moldova

Slovakia

Italy

Albania

Spain

Czech Republic

Hungary

Panama

Peru

South Korea

Sweden

Romania

Latvia

Armenia

Guatemala*

Montenegro*

22

6

9

2

9

15

7

4

7

3

0

0

0

0

0

0

1

1

1

1

4

33

17

26

6

28

47

22

16

30

13

6

5

5

48

16

7

18

17

15

14

56

66.7%

35.3%

34.6%

33.3%

32.1%

31.9%

31.8%

25.0%

23.3%

23.1%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

5.6%

5.9%

6.7%

7.1%

7.1%


25/57


Engagemen is a key goal o OGP, and hus he process o developing and

ulfilling commimens maters as much as heir conen. OGP’s aricles o

governance require ha counries develop heir acion plans “wih he acive

engagemen o ciizens and civil sociey.”54

Each paricipaing governmen mus give is domesic inerlocuor sufficien imeand opporuniy o review he NAP, ensure ha he deails o he plan are com-

municaed hrough muliple channelsincluding online porals and in-person

meeingsand ensure ha a broad specrum o civil sociey and privae-secor

acors is consuled. In addiion, governmens mus documen and make publicly

available heir consulaions wih nongovernmen acors, including any writen

commens ha come ou o ha engagemen.

Counries showed varying levels o compliance wih mandaory OGP consul-

aion processes during he period rom 2012 o 2014, especially during NAP

developmen, as he char below shows.55 In paricular, he lack o compliance when i came o seting imelines, providing advance noice, and raising aware-

ness wihin civil sociey poins o he concern ha engagemen may be more o

a check-he-box exercise. e majoriy o governmens have in-person or online

consulaions74 percen and 54 percen o OGP members engage in hese

ways, respecivelybu pu litle ime ino ensuring he qualiy, breadh, and

deph o hese consulaions.56

Alhough paricipaion is difficul o assess in a rigorous, quaniaive way, i is a

core principle o OGP and a key componen o is success. e parnership’s con-

inued success will depend upon is abiliy o deepen he paricipaion o exising

members, including governmens and civil sociey.


26/57


FIGURE 2

Engaging civil society: How do Open Government Partnershipmembers fare?

Percentage of countries meeting requirements

Source: Joseph Foti, "Technical Paper 1" (Washington: Open Government Partnership, 2015), available at http://www.opengovpartner-

ship.org/sites/default/files/attachments/Technical%20paper%201_final.pdf.

Timeline availability

Advance notice

Awareness raising

Online consultation

In person

Summary

Regular forum (during implementation)

Self-assessment (after implementation)

23%

29%

29%

54%

74%

31%

43%

80%

Consulation compliance process

Government participation in OGPThe OGP Support Unit tracks a few metrics that are indicative of how governments are faring on participation:

• Number of government officials who participate in

OGP working groups: 262 individuals across 5 working

groups as of July 201557

• Number of instances where working groups have

provided assistance in developing a National

Action Plan: 20 instances as of July 201558

• Number of multilateral partners providing finan

cial and/or technical assistance in developing or

implementing an OGP commitment: 4 cases as of

August 201559

• Share of OGP countries that have established a

forum for regular multistakeholder consultationon OGP implementation: 43 percent60


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On he civil sociey side, here is clearly ension beween governmen and civil

sociey perspecives, as refleced in he civil sociey engagemen surveys ha are

run by he Suppor Uni’s civil sociey eam. When asked how much civil sociey

inpu is refleced in governmens’ NAPs, or example, 80 percen o governmen

respondens believe ha “all” or “mos” o civil sociey inpu is refleced. In con-

ras, only 39 percen o civil sociey respondens hink ha heir inpu is refleced.On he brigh side, 59 percen o civil sociey respondens believe ha he qualiy

o governmen recepiveness o inpu rom civil sociey organizaions abou NAPs

is “good,” and only 6 percen hink recepiviy o CSO inpu is “poor.”61

Civil sociey engagemen is a learning process, and governmens will learn

hrough he repeaed process o engagemen on NAPs, as well as rom each oher.

Some ineresing lessons have already come ou o his process. Mexico’s and

Indonesia’s draf NAPs were widely criicized by civil sociey in hose counries

or being oo vague. In Mexico, an inense discussion occurred beween a se o

sakeholders ha included CSOs; he Federal Access o Inormaion and DaaProecion Insiue, or IFAI; and he Minisry o Public Adminisraion, which

resuled in he ormaion o he OGP riparie echnical Secrearia, or TS.

TS evenually creaed a Reinorced or Exended Acion Plan and has remained a

permanen fixure o Mexico’s OGP process, as i has proven o be a good plaorm

or discussion.62 In Indonesia, however, CSOs coninue o eel excluded i hey are

no par o he governmen-seleced core eam ha creaes he NAPs.63

Catalyzing domestic policy reform

OGP is inended o be a vehicle o simulae policy reorm, and he parnership

aspires o become he cenral node or ransparen and accounable governmen.

ereore, a key indicaion o success is wha kinds o reorms member counries

are able o bring abou. e parnership encourages reorm in several ways. One is

ha i requires member governmens o craf acion plans and recognizes govern-

mens ha aim or specific and poenially ransormaive reorms by designaing

hem as “sarred” commimens and hen makes he share o sarred commimens

in each counry’s acion plan publicly available.64 e crieria ha OGP uses o

ideniy sarred commimens are no idenical o hose used in his repor oideniy ambiious commimens, alhough here is subsanial overlap.


28/57


As Rakesh Rajani, previously he lead civil sociey chair or OGP, has said, “e

mark o success or OGP is no how many counries sign on, bu how many com-

mimens hey deliver.”65 Given he race-o-he-op model, he qualiy o commi-

mens maters. Beyond shaping global norms, does he parnership drive change

on he ground in counries?

An Independen Reporing Mechanism synhesis repor presened daa ha

revealed ha many NAPs had “filler commimens” ha were eiher vague, irrel-

evan, or had no posiive poenial impac. Despie such criiques, many member

governmens included exceedingly low percenages o new commimens in heir

second NAPs. And only wo evaluaed NAPs showed beween 80 percen and 100

percen compleion o commimens.66

e IRM process ound ha overall, only 29 percen o commimens ha were

made during he firs year o OGP have been compleed. While his percenage

may seem low, i represens more han 270 commimens ha were compleed by43 counries.67 In some cases, hese commimens included pre-exising iniia-

ives ha may have been implemened ouside an OGP ramework; or example,

he Unied Saes’ NAP incorporaed prior commimens rom previous effors.68

Even so, here is litle doub ha OGP has moved he needle orward on open

governmen in a wide range o jurisdicions.

e mos common commimens, caegorized by OGP values, are relaed o

access o inormaion, while civic paricipaion-relaed commimens are by ar

he leas common. By issue, he greaes number o commimens were made wih

respec o e-governmen, capaciy building, and open daa. Commimens relaed

o media, social audis, and deense were given less atenion and suffer rom

poenial neglec.69 ese paterns may poin o a weakness in OGP’s srucure in

addressing very difficul, enrenched culural and poliical issues.

In oal, 198 o he 777 currenly evaluaed commimens, or abou 25 percen,

are ambiious. Croaia and Uruguay have he highes raes o ambiious com-

mimens, ollowed by Bulgaria and Liberia. Conversely, he Czech Republic,

Hungary, Panama, Peru, Souh Korea, and Sweden had zero ambiious commi-

mens, ollowing closely behind Romania, Lavia, and Armenia wih one each, orless han 7 percen o heir oal commimens. (see able 3)

e parnership also provides a plaorm or engagemen, learning, and combined

advocacy or reormers boh in governmen and civil sociey so ha advocaes can

draw srengh and learn lessons rom colleagues around he world.


29/57


Even in nonparicipaing counries, he exisence o OGP makes i more difficul

or governmen officials who are hosile or indifferen o an open governmen

agenda o ignore or sof-pedal demands or greaer ransparency and access o

inormaion. e exisence o he parnership has he poenial o spur a race o

he op among nonmember governmens as well, eiher by shaping global norms

on ransparency or by encouraging nonmember counries o become membersand make he necessary reorms o mee he eligibiliy crieria.

Some o he mos compelling evidence o OGP’s ransormaive impac is he

reorms ha governmens insiue merely o qualiy or he parnership. For

example, unisia, Sierra Leone, and Malawi have all passed subsanial legislaion

in an effor o mee he eligibiliy requiremens, which hey have done success-

ully. ese effors speak boh o he broad appeal o open governance norms and

he viruous circle ha OGP has se in moion: e more counries ha join OGP,

he weaker he argumens are agains joining.


30/57


Challenges

Despie he Open Governmen Parnership’s success in bridging he developed-

developing counry divide, i has been less successul in balancing regional

represenaion, wih Lain America and Europe proporionally dominan while

Asia and Arica are less well-represened. is dispariy is parly a uncion o he

number o eligible counries in each regiono which Arica has he lowes as a

share o is oal counriesand may also reflec culural differences, bu i OGP

seeks o be a ruly global movemen or open governmen, i will need o engage

counries more broadly and expand is engagemen hrough regional bodies.

Once counries have joined OGP, here are very ew accounabiliy mecha-

nisms ha encourage openness or progress.70

In ceraineven manycases,governmens’ acions may give pause o observers and cause skepicism. e

Independen Reporing Mechanism repors provide solid analyses o each coun-

ry’s naional acion plan, bu here is no ormal srucure ha holds each counry

accounable or addressing he problems revealed by he IRM reviews. More

TABLE 4

Participation and eligibility by region

Region

Number of

participants

Number of eligible

countries that are not

participating

Total eligible

countries

Percentage of elig

countries that are

participating

Africa 9 9 18 50.0%

Americas 17 3 20 15.0%

Middle East and North Africa 4 0 4 0.0%

Asia 5 9 14 64.3%

Europe 31 10 41 24.4%

Oceania 3 0 3 0.0%

All regions 69 31 100 31.00%

Source: Open Government Partnership, “Home,” available at http://www.opengovpartnership.org/ (last accessed February 2016).


31/57


broadly, he inended purpose o he IRM is ambiguous: Is i inended o inorm

and promp ollow-up acions by governmens or by civil sociey, or possibly

boh? Is he IRM limied solely o assessing he role o governmen, or migh i

exend o offer assessmens o civil sociey ’s role? Alhough he IRM is poenially

an imporan componen o accounabiliy, i is unclear wheher connecions can

and should exis beween he IRM and ollow-up hrough NAPs or oher means.

Clearly, perormance in making reorms varies across counries. Bu are mecha-

nisms or accounabiliy buil ino he parnership srucure? e Seering

Commitee has he auhoriy o review he paricipaion o a governmen in

OGP i he governmen’s eligibiliy crieria slip beneah he minimum hreshold

afer he counry is admited, i i is oherwise deficien in he preparaion or

implemenaion o is acion plans, or i i has aced inconsisenly wih he Open

Governmen Declaraion. I is unclear rom OGP’s aricles o governance wheher

his power o review also implies he power o suspend OGP paricipaion.

As wih any high-profile inernaional iniiaive ha perains o good governance

or human righs, here is a risk ha some o he paricipaing governmens may wish o use OGP as a means o deflecing domesic and inernaional criicism

have litle ineres in meeing heir obligaions under he parnership. OGP’s

emphasis on helpingraher han sancioningnoncomplian governmens,

A summary of recent activity relating to OGPcompliance and accountability

Ten countries received letters from the OGP Support Unit for being more than four

months behind on their NAPs.

• Azerbaijan and Israel, which had requested extensions on either the submission or

implementation deadline of their NAPs, received letters granting these extensions but

informing them that they would be expected to adhere to a two-year implementation

cycle for future action plans.

• Malta and Turkey, which received letters from the OGP Support Unit two years in a

row, have been referred to the Criteria and Standards Subcommittee.71


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while undersandable in an iniiaive ha is predicaed on volunary paricipaion,

creaes a weakness in oversigh ha could resul in a governmen mainaining is

paricipan saus over a prolonged periodeven indefinielywhile holding

litle real commimen o OGP’s values.

Recen evens have challenged he exising model o OGP and indicae a promis-ing insiuional flexibiliy and he prioriizaion o he parnership’s credibiliy

and values. As previously menioned, he OGP Seering Commitee esablished

a new response policy in 2014 o conron he mos blaan violaions o Open

Governmen Declaraion principles. By raising concerns abou unaccepable

pracices ha were occurring in heir counries, civil sociey organizaions helped

bring abou his change. e policy has wo aims: 1) o assis counries in resor-

ing a more rusing and producive relaionship beween governmen and civil

sociey and 2) o ensure ha OGP member governmens respec he Open

Governmen Declaraion and do no damage he repuaion o OGP. Several

groupsSeering Commitee members, OGP mulilaeral parners, workinggroup leaders, and CSOscan rigger an OGP invesigaion by presening a leter

deailing heir concerns o he Seering Group as a whole.72


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Testing the model:

Azerbaijan and Hungary

In March 2015, civil sociey organizaions rom wo counries, Azerbaijan and

Hungary, submited leters o concern using he response policy. e leter rom

Azerbaijani CSOs claimed ha he Azerbaijani governmen’s behavior oward

civil sociey “raises imporan concerns abou [is] commimen o he values and

principles expressed in he Open Governmen Declaraion.”73 According o or

Hodenfield, policy and advocacy officer a CIVICUS World Alliance or Ciizen

Paricipaion, “e Azerbaijani governmen has orchesraed a crackdown on

independen NGOs and reedom o expression more broadly.” is has includedlegislaive resricions on nongovernmenal organizaions and arress o heir lead-

ers and invesigaive journaliss.74

e leter o OGP deails acions ha were aken by he governmenincluding

smear campaigns, resricive legislaive amendmens, and conrol and harass-

men o NGOsha have led o he inimidaion o CSOs and individuals and

he silencing o any discourse. e auhors drew on he Independen Reporing

Mechanism review o Azerbaijan’s naional acion plan in advancing heir claims,

in paricular he “counry conex” porion o he repor which described some o

he abuses enumeraed in he leter. Finally, he members asked he OGP Seering

Commitee o “help esablish a posiive environmen or governmen and civil

sociey collaboraion,” including recommendaions.75

OGP’s review ound ha he Azerbaijani CSOs’ concerns are valid. OGP has

begun sage 1 responses, which include working wih he Azerbaijani govern-

men o creae a work plan wih he Crieria and Sandards Subcommitee o fix

hese problems.76 Subsequenly, he Exracive Indusries ransparency Iniiaive,

or EII, which promoes accounabiliy in naural resource managemen, has

downgraded Azerbaijan rom complian o candidae saus.77

Failure o ac in hissiuaion could harm OGP’s repuaion.


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Hungary’s leter, which poined ou direc acion agains and harassmen o

criical CSOs and which also drew on a recen IRM review, was submited

more recenly, and he counry is currenly under review by he Crieria and

Sandards Subcommitee.78

ese cases reveal he weaknesses and srenghs o OGP’s membership ramework. Wihin he membership srucure, counries’ NAP commimens are

no necessarily conneced o acual progress on ransparency, and here is no

direc link beween he IRM and accounabiliy. Alhough boh Azerbaijan’s

and Hungary’s IRM repors indicaed poenial problemsand alhough hese

findings were reerenced in boh o he leters o he Seering Commiteehe

IRM repor isel was no sufficien o rigger acion rom he parnership. Direc

civil sociey inervenion was required or he OGP Seering Commitee o ac.

While civil sociey endorsemen o OGP acions is imporan, civil sociey acors

may ace limiaions on wha hey can openly express due o ear o reribuion

rom heir governmens. e Seering Commitee or he Suppor Uni shouldconsider reaching ou proacively o civil sociey raher han waiing or CSOs o

voice heir concerns. In paricular, he Seering Commitee should closely ollow

he “counry conex” componen o IRM repors, which can provide imporan

inormaion on domesic condiions.

Azerbaijan and Hungary have shown ha member counries can acively ail o

achieve any o he goals o OGP. e curren OGP srucure may no be sufficien

o address compliance issues, hough i can provide criical suppor when civil

sociey chooses o ac. ese cases show he limiaions o he IRM process bu

also poin o he rigor o he IRM repors, he srengh o civil sociey engage-

men, and he imporan role played by nongovernmenal acors wihin he

parnership. ey also show ha where domesic space or civil sociey is limied,

OGP can creae an effecive plaorm or civil sociey paricipaion a he inerna-

ional level. How OGP resolves hese wo cases and heir individual oucomes will

have a significan impac on OGP’s repuaion and is model o simulaing a race

o he op. Delays in addressing he issues a hand will only impede OGP’s effors

o raise he level o ambiion among is members more generally.


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The role of the

United States in OGP

For more han 50 years, he Unied Saes has been an imporan incubaor o

ideas abou open governmen. From he Adminisraive Procedure Ac and he

Freedom o Inormaion Ac, or FOIA, o he open daa principles, he Unied

Saes has been an early adoper o open governmen policies and has played an

influenial role in shaping and giving conen o he open governmen and open

daa movemens. a role has coninued under he Obama adminisraion, which

o a greaer exen han any previous U.S. adminisraion has endorsed he concep

o open governmen and encouraged oher naions o do he same. e UniedSaes played a pivoal role in he creaion o he Open Governmen Parnership

and remains a robus advocae o he iniiaive.

Nowihsanding hese imporan conribuions, he U.S. governmen has no

consisenly achieved a level o domesic openness ha is commensurae wih is

prominence in open governmen issues. Alhough he Obama adminisraion has

perormed well in meeing many o he objecives se ou in is naional acion

plans, hose objecives have ended o avor innovaion and procedural reorms

over changes o legal sandards and subsanive oucomes. In addiion, he admin-

israion, like oher OGP paricipans, has made limied progress on enhancing

civic paricipaion in governmen decision-making.

The Obama administration and open government

ransparency and openness in governmen were early prioriies o he Obama

adminisraion. During his firs presidenial campaign, he presiden promised an

unprecedened level o openness and ransparency in his adminisraion.79 One o

he presiden’s firs execuive acions ollowing his inauguraion in January 2009 was o issue he “Memorandum on ransparency and Open Governmen” ha

promised “an unprecedened level o openness in Governmen” anchored on hree

principles: ransparency; collaboraion; and paricipaion.80 is memorandum


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was ollowed in December 2009 by an Open Governmen Direcive rom hen-

Direcor o he Office o Managemen and Budge Peer Orszag, which in urn gave

rise o wha he Whie House now reers o as he Open Governmen Iniiaive, an

umbrella designaion ha encompasses he policies and programs ha were imple-

mened in connecion wih U.S. agencies’ open governmen plans.81

Under he banner o open governmen, he adminisraion pursued a number

o iniiaives during he presiden’s firs wo years in office, such as an execuive

order ha insruced agencies o release more inormaion under FOIA and he

creaion o Daa.gov, a cenralized online plaorm or accessing governmen

daa.82 Many o hese effors subsequenly would be incorporaed ino he Unied

Saes’ firs NAP under OGP.83

Alhough OGP is a ruly mulilaeral exercise, he Obama adminisraion was

a pivoal acor on he inernaional sage in is advocacy or he esablishmen

o OGP, and he parnership is, in significan respecs, an inernaionalizaiono he hree principles o open governmen ha Presiden Obama enumeraed

in his January 2009 memorandum. By he adminisraion’s own elling, a major

impeus or OGP was he presiden’s speech a he 2010 U.N. General Assembly,

during which he exhored world governmens o “bring specific commimens o

promoe ransparency; o figh corrupion; o energize civic engagemen; o lever-

age new echnologies so ha we srenghen he oundaions o reedom in our

own counries.”84 e ollowing summer, hen-Secreary o Sae Hillary Clinon

hosed more han 60 governmens in Washingon, D.C., o lay he groundwork or

he parnership, which launched in November o 2011 wih eigh ounding mem-

ber saes: he Unied Saes; Brazil; Indonesia; he Philippines; Mexico; Norway;

Souh Arica; and he Unied Kingdom.85

Since he creaion o OGP, he Unied Saes has coninued o play an influen-

ial role in he iniiaive. e Unied Saes was a ounding co-chair o he OGP

Seering Commitee, a posiion i held unil a new commitee was eleced in

2014.86 I now holds a sea on he Crieria and Sandards Subcommitee.87 In

addiion, U.S.-based expers and nongovernmenal organizaions are acive on he

civil sociey side o OGP. e curren OGP Seering Commitee and wo o is

subcommitees all include a leas one U.S.-based organizaion.88


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U.S. participation in OGP

e Unied Saes is a paricipan in OGP, as well as an advocae o he iniia-

ive. Overall responsibiliy or he iniiaive is ormally assigned o he U.S.

Deparmen o Sae’s Bureau o Democracy, Human Righs, and Labor. However,

he Execuive Office o he Presidenspecifically he Office o Science andechnology Policyis he official U.S. poin o conac wih OGP and he eniy

responsible or he coordinaion and developmen o NAPs.

e Unied Saes has paricipaed in hree cycles o OGP NAP ormulaion

and implemenaionin 2011, 2013, and 2015he firs wo o which have

now been subjec o IRM review. In is mos recen NAP, which was released in

Ocober 2015 and is currenly undergoing implemenaion, he Unied Saes

proposed 44 commimens, which included new iniiaives as well as expanded

iniiaives rom he previous plan released in 2013.89

All hree o he U.S. acion plans cover a wide range o governmen programs and

policies. Ye he mos recen IRM review suggess ha he adminisraion has no

always been successul in ranslaing hese high-level commimens ino concree

policies ha can subsanially advance he our open governmen principles o

access o inormaion, public accounabiliy, civic paricipaion, and echnological

innovaion. O he 26 commimens in he 2013 acion plan, only wo were ound

o be “ransormaive” by he IRM reviewer. O he remaining 24 commimens,

13 were deemed likely o have “moderae” impac and 11 “minor” impac.90 A he

level o individual milesones, no one was ound o be ransormaive, and 45 o

54 milesones were evaluaed o be o minor impac.

I is imporan o qualiy discussion o hese figures wih he observaion ha even

a horough and imparial review, such as he kind ha was offered by he 2013

IRM reviewer, canno avoid an elemen o subjeciviy, paricularly wih respec o

assessing he likely impac o individual commimens and milesones. aking his

cavea ino accoun, he 2013 IRM reviewer’s findings, along wih broad paterns

in he conen o he acion plans, sill poin o challenges in he domesic imple-

menaion o OGP ha are likely o recur in uure U.S. NAPs and ha reflec

challenges ha oher counries are likely o experience as well.

Firs, he 2013 IRM review reflecs a misalignmen beween he likely impac o

commimens ha were conained in he acion plan and he underlying mile-

sones ha were inended o ulfill hose commimens. For example, neiher o he

commimens raed as ransormaive by he 2013 IRM reviewer is suppored by


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milesones o an equally ransormaive characer. e firs o hese ransormaive

commimens, a pledge o improve ransparency in ederal spending, encompasses

nine milesones, seven o which he IRM reviewer deemed o be o minor impac

and wo o which she ound o be o moderae impac. e second commimen

U.S. paricipaion in a global movemen o increase ransparency in governmen

revenues relaing o he sale or exploiaion o naural resourcesincluded ourmilesones, all o which he reviewer ound o be o moderae impac. In he same

vein, he 13 commimens ha were deemed o be o moderae impac encompassed

34 milesones, 22 o which were ound o be o minor impac and 12 o which were

ound o be o moderae impac. is divergence may reflec he process-ocused

naure o milesones relaive o commimens, which end o be more general and

synheic in characer. Bu meaningul acion on milesones is necessary o achieve

he policy reorms ha are enshrined in commimens.

Second, he NAP appears o avor he goals o echnological innovaion and access

o inormaion over public accounabiliy and civic paricipaion. O he 26 com-mimens ha are conained in he 2013 plan, he reviewer ound ha only wo

were relevan o public accounabiliy and ha 10 were relevan o public parici-

paion, as opposed o 17 ha were relevan o echnological innovaion and 18

ha were relevan o access o inormaion. A he level o individual milesones,

he discrepancy is even sarker: O 54 milesones, only 6 were relaed o accoun-

abiliy and 15 o paricipaion, compared wih 26 relaing o innovaion and 42

relaing o access o inormaion. Nor does i appear ha quaniy is offse by

qualiy: Only 2 o he 15 milesones ha relaed o paricipaion and none o he

milesones ha relaed o accounabiliy were deemed o be o moderae impac;

none were ransormaive. In conras, 10 o he 27 milesones relaing o innova-

ion and 19 o he 42 milesones relaing o access o inormaion were deemed o

be o moderae impac, bu again, none were ransormaive.

ese figures poin oward wo qualiaive paterns in he NAPs ha he Unied

Saes may wish o consider when drafing uure acion plans. Firs, he individual

milesones in he plan avor innovaion and procedural reorms over changes o

legal sandards and subsanive oucomes. For example, all five milesones under

he “Modernize he Freedom o Inormaion Ac” commimen relae o making

he FOIA process more efficien and sandardized across agencies,91

such as crea-ing an online poral or FOIA requess or developing a FOIA e-learning raining

resource.92 Bu none o he milesones explicily address he sandard o FOIA

review, which he presiden has addressed independenly o OGP wih ambiguous


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resuls,93 or examine wheher curren levels o disclosure under FOIA are accep-

able. is patern is repeaed in he 2015 NAP, whichlike he 2013 NAP

ocuses on he user experience o FOIA porals and enhancing access o maerials

ha have already been released or ha are subjec o mandaory disclosure, such

as nonprofi ax filings.94

e second qualiaive patern shows ha mos o he commimens and mile-

sones under he acion plan ha relae o access o inormaion are ocused on

disclosure o economic and budgeary daa or digiizaion o inormaion ha

was already public in an analog orma. By conras, measures ha call or he

disclosure o inormaion ha relaes o curren deense and inelligence acivi-

ies are mosly absen rom he NAPs. One noable excepion is a commimen in

he 2013 NAP o disclose inormaion relaing o he use o oreign-inelligence

surveillance auhoriies, which was broadened in he 2015 NAP o a general com-

mimen o ransparency in he inelligence communiy, including he publicaion

o an Open Governmen Plan or he Inelligence Communiy.95 However, his isclearly a challenging area or he Unied Saes: e IRM reviewer ound ha he

disclosure called or under he 2013 NAP lacked “sandards and specifics,” and he

2015 commimens seem similarly vague, hough i is oo early o weigh in defini-

ively on heir naure and impac.96

ese paterns in he acion plan likely derive in par rom srucural acors.

Responsibiliy or OGP wihin he U.S. governmen is divided beween he U.S.

Sae Deparmen and he Whie House Office o Science and echnology Policy,

neiher o which have comprehensive experise on he ull range o issues ha

OGP aims o address. OSP coordinaes he acion plan developmen process,

which may accoun or he preponderance o echnology-ocused, process-

minded milesones ound in he 2011 and 2013 plans. echnology and daa are

imporan aspecs o paricipaion in he OGP, bu hey are no he only aspecs,

and he selecion o an office ha is saffed wih echnology policy expers may

have led o an emphasis on access o inormaion and innovaion a he expense o

civic paricipaion and public accounabiliy.

Anoher significan srucural acor is he absence o an execuive order or presi-

denial direcive ha requires agencies o paricipae in he acion plan develop-men process or in he implemenaion o he acion plans. Insead, paricipaion

by agencies is volunary. ese permissive condiions, in conjuncion wih OSP’s

relaively low profile and limied budge, have mean ha imporan eniies


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wihin he U.S. governmen ha accoun or a large porion o he ederal budge

and engage in large-scale classificaion and daa collecionsuch as he he U.S.

Deparmen o Deense, he Naional Securiy Agency, and he CIAhave had a

bes a minor role in he realizaion o he Unied Saes’ obligaions under OGP.

Nor have agencies ha did paricipae in OGP implemenaion been required opropose milesones ha are separae rom reorms ha were already planned or

underway or reasons unrelaed o OGP, meaning ha he number o reorms ha

are currenly credied o U.S. paricipaion in OGP are likely oversaed. is poins

o a broader challenge or OGP: e lack o clear causaliy makes impac difficul o

demonsrae. Are counries making reorms because o heir OGP commimens, or

is i simply ha hose naions who wish o be members are already onboard wih he

open governmen movemen and would have insiued reorms regardless?

One o he heories a he ounding o OGP was ha here were reormers wihin

governmens who waned o pursue hese reorms, bu ha an inernaional pla-orm would provide boh normaive pressure and pracical learning opporuniies

hrough peer experience ha would aciliae more, beter, and aser reorms in

open governmen.97 More research is needed o ideniy wheher experience has

borne ou his hypohesis has been borne ou hrough experience.

In ac, aligning NAPs wih broader social and economic rends is imporan i OGP

wans o caalyze ransormaional change. e Unied Saes has made promising

seps in his regard. For example, is mos recen NAP includes commimens o

open police daa and increased ransparency in rade negoiaionsa response o

he high degree o public scruiny ha hese opics have recenly received. 98 Civil

sociey organizaions, or heir par, acknowledged ha he Obama adminisraion

has me “coninually” wih hem regarding many aspecs o NAP developmen and

ormulaion and lauded many o he adminisraion’s commimens, noably is

commimen o he Exracive Indusries ransparency Iniiaive.99 A he same ime,

CSOs also expressed rusraion ha i is no always clear how he adminisraion

incorporaes civil sociey recommendaions ino NAPs and are pressing or a more

“collaboraive and responsive consulaion process.”100


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Recommendations

o encourage coninued engagemen a he highes poliical levels, he Open

Governmen Parnership will need o say conneced o he cuting edge o

inernaional issues so ha i remains relevan in areas ha demand atenion rom

high-level poliical officials. e cross-cuting naure o ransparency, paricipa-

ion, and accounabiliy issues is a poenial srengh o he parnership. OGP

could play a role in he implemenaion o he Susainable Developmen Goals;

parake in he discussion on more ransparency in climae finance; or work o

improve innovaion and accounabiliy in delivering humaniarian assisance inligh o he curren migran crisis.

Wihin he parnership, empowering he Seering Commitee o ac as a champion

and an ambassador o OGP and o engage direcly wih high-level counerpars is

also imporan or mainaining high-level atenion, as is ensuring ha OGP has

a clearly defined and well-conneced home wihin is member governmens. I is

also imporan o make he value o he parnership clear by showing is impac

and resuls while providing a source or peer learning and recogniion. e more

OGP becomes inegraed wih oher global processes and issues, he more i can

remain relevan, bu in doing so, i mus mainain ocus on is core capabiliies.

OGP has he poenial o provide a plaorm o muliply he impac o issues ha

are being discussed in oher orums, such as he G-8, he G-20, he Asia-Pacific

Economic Cooperaion orum, and he Unied Naions.

Paricipaion is an area where he parnership needs more work, especially when

i comes o civil sociey. Recommendaions o improve engagemen wih civil

sociey include srenghening relaionships wih advocaes on he ground in

member counries and improving he ool kis ha are available o civil sociey

reormers. e producs ha OGP currenly produces, such as he IndependenReporing Mechanism progress repors, are o high qualiy bu end o be

lenghy and research oriened. ey should be ranslaed ino ools ha are


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easier o uilize or civil sociey engagemen, wih key messages, alking poins,

various kinds o media oureach opions, and oher conex-specific needs. is

will require srong civil sociey and communicaions eams, which OGP already

has and is in he process o srenghening even more.

o deepen engagemen wih exising members, he parnership should boos ispeer-learning and suppor mechanisms. Alhough here is significan paricipaion

by he working groups in helping o develop naional acion plans, his paricipaion

should be srenghened and made more proacive. Anoher recommendaion ha

would provide value o members is o expand and deepen sraegic parnerships.

OGP has ormed alliances wih our groups ha have pledged suppor o OGP

counries: he World Bank Group, rom which 15 counries received financial and

echnical suppor on heir NAPs; he Iner-American Developmen Bank, which

assised wih NAP implemenaion in Caribbean and Lain American counries; he

Organisaion or Economic Co-operaion and Developmen, which provided ar-

geed echnical suppor o help ineresed counries mee eligibiliy crieria; and heU.N. Developmen Programme, which suppored he implemenaion and consula-

ion processes.101 Deepening hese parnerships and creaing more ormal srucures

or parners o assis OGP memberseiher by region or by uncioncould help

OGP leverage is srenghs and bolser engagemen rom members.

One o he mos obvious ways in which he parnership can seek o have real impac

is hrough meaningul policy reorm, and i will need o demonsrae coninued

resuls on his ron o mainain is relevance as i emerges rom is sar-up period.

e cycle o NAP developmen, implemenaion, and independen review should

be less condensed because he rapid imeline in he curren seupwhere he hree

are ofen overlappingdiscourages counries rom aking he ime o ideniy more

difficul, long-erm issues. Equally, he parnership should encourage he idenifica-

ion o shor-, medium-, and long-erm commimens among members and creae

a raing sysem ha differeniaes hem as such; ha way, counries can be rewarded

or addressing he longer-erm, more difficul challenges.

e IRM is unique or mulilaeral iniiaives, bu is purpose is no clear. I

could be beter uilized o connec reviews o change by requiring member

governmens and civil sociey groups o respond o he IRM reviews, by eiherideniying wha changes hey plan o make in response or explaining areas

where hey may disagree wih he findings. In addiion, he counry conex


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componen o IRM reviews should eaure more prominenly in Seering

Commitee meeings. is would discourage governmens rom using paricipa-

ion in OGP as a means o deflecing broader criicisms abou heir commi-

men o open governmen values and would empower civil sociey o inervene

wih he Seering Commitee in counries where governmens are engaging in

harassmen and inimidaion o he kind alleged in Azerbaijan and Hungary.


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Conclusion

e Open Governmen Parnership is a unique innovaion in global governance

ha has proved ha values o ransparency, paricipaion, and accounabiliy hold

wide appeal. I also has shown ha counries rom various income levels, geo-

graphic regions, and culural conexs can work ogeher oward common aims.

e parnership is reaching a ransiion poin as i eners is fifh year, and i will

need o solidiy is success by ideniying lessons learned rom is firs ew years.

OGP has done well in atracing high-level poliical atenion and simulaing

reorms among members, as well as in spreading global norms. However, i willneed o say on he cuting edge o inernaional issues o remain relevan and no

become a bureaucraic exercise, as well as improve srucures or accounabiliy o

deepen he reorms ha member saes underake. Paricipaion is an area where

he parnership needs o devoe dedicaed atenion o ensure rue collaboraion

and inpu rom ciizens and governmens alike. While he parnership shows grea

promise, his repor highlighs ways or OGP o coninue o grow and flourish as a

model o cross-regional, mulilaeral cooperaion ha encourages more open and

accounable governmens worldwide.


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About the authors

Molly Elgin-Cossart is a Senior Fellow a he Cener or American Progress,

where she works on issues involving oreign policy, inernaional developmen,

and global conflic.

Trevor Sutton is a Nonresiden Fellow wih he Naional Securiy and

Inernaional Policy eam a he Cener, where he ocuses on governance, ranspar-

ency, and developmen issues.

Kathryn Sachs is a ormer Naional Securiy and Inernaional Policy inern a

he Cener.


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Acknowledgments

e auhors wan o Annie Malknech, ormer Research Associae wih he

Susainable Securiy and Peacebuilding Iniiaive a he Cener or American

Progress, and James Pooler, cyber securiy inern a he Cener, or heir help in

preparing his repor. ey also wish o hank he Cener’s Ediorial eam or heir valuable conribuion. Finally, he auhors would like o hank Nahaniel Heller o

he Resuls or Developmen Insiue and Joe Powell, Joe Foi, Munyema Hasan,

and J. Preson Whit o he OGP Suppor Uni or heir insigh.


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Appendix

Country GDP per capita in USD (2014)

TI Corruption

Perceptions Index

Polity IV

score

Albania $4,619.20 36 9

Argentina $12,922.40 32 8

Armenia $3,646.70 35 5

Azerbaijan $7,884.20 29 -7

Let the Sunshine In: An Assessment of the Open Government Partnership

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