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Transparency: From Enlightenment to Neoliberalism or When a Norm of Liberation Becomes a Tool of Governing

Author

Listed:
  • Afshin Mehrpouya

    (GREGH - Groupement de Recherche et d'Etudes en Gestion à HEC - HEC Paris - Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Marie-Laure Salles-Djelic

    (CSO - Centre de sociologie des organisations (Sciences Po, CNRS) - Sciences Po - Sciences Po - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

Abstract

Transparency is one of the fundamental norms that structure our contemporary individual, organizational and social lives. Its influence can be felt at all levels, and it provides, in particular, the normative foundation for the current explosion of accounting, audit and other visibility-based accountability structures. The emergence and rapid expansion of international organizations – that have played a central role in structuring transnational governance around a plethora of standards and audits – has been fundamental to the theorization and global diffusion of accountability regimes. In this paper, we undertake a conceptual genealogy of the powerful notion of transparency. Starting with its Enlightenment roots, we explore the multiple competing and conflicting mobilizations of the notion of transparency through time to liberate, to deliberate, to legitimize, to control, to structure or to govern. We then trace the transposition of these various historical trajectories into the transnational space. Beginning with the League of Nations, we follow the various mutations of transnational transparency up to its contemporary and profound neoliberal transformation. We show how transnational transparency has shifted from being a norm of emancipatory accountability, "exposing the few to the many", to one of governing by "exposing the many to the few".

Suggested Citation

  • Afshin Mehrpouya & Marie-Laure Salles-Djelic, 2014. "Transparency: From Enlightenment to Neoliberalism or When a Norm of Liberation Becomes a Tool of Governing," Working Papers hal-02018562, HAL.
  • Handle: RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-02018562
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Franck Aggeri & Morgane Le Breton, 2016. "Que signifie être transparent ? La régulation de la transparence : la matérialisation d’un idéal en technologie de gouvernement," Post-Print hal-01901216, HAL.
    2. Joel Bothello & Afshin Mehrpouya, 2019. "Between regulatory field structuring and organizational roles: Intermediation in the field of sustainable urban development," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 13(2), pages 177-196, June.
    3. Miron Avidan & Dror Etzion & Joel Gehman, 2019. "Opaque transparency: How material affordances shape intermediary work," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 13(2), pages 197-219, June.
    4. Franck Aggeri & Morgane Le Breton, 2016. "The regulation of transparency in the field of CSR," Post-Print halshs-01368029, HAL.
    5. Morgane Le Breton & Franck Aggeri, 2016. "The regulation of CSR by means of transparency standards," Post-Print hal-01368035, HAL.

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