Social Control and Transparency: Evaluation of the Access to Information Model in Brazil

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to assess whether the measures and actions implemented by the governors to improve the Brazilian public government model are contributing to raise the level of social control and transparency in public administration. We assume that the promotion of transparency and access to information is an essential measure for the strengthening of social control and democracy and, therefore, for the improvement of the quality of public management. It is a theoretical-empirical and bibliographical article, supported by the approaches of the governance, neoinstitutional and agency theories. Based on the literature, reports and legal regulations, we initially seek to identify the motivations that led to the adaptation and transfer of corporate governance experiences for the public sector. A field investigation was carried out to evaluate the quality of the information on public expenditures available in the transparency portals of the 200 most populous municipalities in the country. It concludes, finally, that there are still innumerable challenges and obstacles to be overcome in the sociocultural and institutional spheres. These difficulties are aggravated by deficiencies in the competence and ethical and moral values ​​of the governors and politicians, essential to making viable good public governance, increasing transparency and increasing social control in Brazil.