Transparency and Collective Action: The Effect of Information Laws on Protests

• In Event: Poster Session: Conflict Processes II

Abstract

The implementations of Freedom of Information (FOI) laws are expected to increase government transparency, reduce corruption, improve government image, and address citizen's needs, thus reduce protests. However, scholars have found FOI laws are not effective in improving decision-making by government or reducing corruption in some countries. In this paper, I connect the ineffectiveness of FOI with protest by study under what conditions FOI is not effective in correcting government officials' wrongdoing and leads to more protests. I argue that when FOI laws reveal the information about government wrongdoings and the government is not capable or not willing to correct wrongdoings and punish who conducted wrongdoings, citizens will protest. Using a dataset that covers data covers observations of 128 countries between the years 1997 and 2018 and a difference in differences design, I found while the implementations of Freedom of Information Act in developed countries decrease the number of protests, the implementations of Freedom of Information Act in developing countries increase the number of protests.

Author

• Shengkuo Hu, University of California, Merced