Rachel Adams is a Senior Research Specialist at the Human Sciences Research Council, South Africa, and a Post-Doctoral Researcher with the Information Law and Policy Centre, at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of London.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Preface

Introduction: The Discourse of Transparency

'Beginning with the things it produced'

The Discourse of Transparency

Transparency in Scholarship

Book Outline

Approach: The Order of Discourse

Summary

Further Reading

PART I: THE DISCOURSE OF TRANSPARENCY

Chapter 1: A Brief History of Transparency's Entry in Discourse

Abstract

Introduction

Archaeology

Transparency, the Enlightenment and Human Rights

Designing Transparency

Transparency as Metaphor

Summary

Further Reading

Chapter 2: Access to Information Delimited

Abstract

Introduction

Epistemic Violence of Transparency

Law and Exclusion

Summary

Further Reading

Chapter 3: Transparency Universal

Abstract

Introduction

Transparency and Inclusivity

Proselytising Transparency

Summary

Further Reading

PART II: TOWARD THE POST-TRANSPARENT

Chapter 4: The Fallacies of Transparency: Fake News, Artificial Intelligence and the Hyperinformation Society

Abstract

Introduction

Fake News: Baudrillard and the Hyperinformation Society

The Illusion of Transparency

Summary

Further Reading

Chapter 5: Producing the Transparent Subject: The Gaze Turns Inward

Introduction

Foucault and Subjectivity

The Transparent Subject

Self-Disclosure

Legislating for the Transparent Subject

Whistleblowing Laws

Depoliticising Effects

Summary Further Reading

PART III: RESISTANCE

Chapter 6: Resisting Transparency

Abstract

Introduction

Foucault, Power and Resistance

Resistance to Transparency

Summary

Further Reading

Conclusion

This book critiques the contemporary recourse to transparency in law and policy.
This is, ostensibly, the information age. At the heart of the societal shift toward digitalisation is the call for transparency and the liberalisation of information and data. Yet, with the recent rise of concerns such as 'fake news', post-truth and misinformation, where the policy responses to all these phenomena has been a petition for even greater transparency, it becomes imperative to critically reflect on what this dominant idea means, whom it serves, and what the effects are of its power. In response, this book provides the first sustained critique of the concept of transparency in law and policy. It offers a concise overview of transparency in law and policy around the world, and critiques how this concept works discursively to delimit other forms of governance, other ways of knowing and other realities. It draws on the work of Michel Foucault on discourse, archaeology and genealogy, together with later Foucaultian scholars, including Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak and Judith Butler, as a theoretical framework for challenging and thinking anew the history and understanding of what has become one of the most popular buzzwords of 21st century law and governance.
At the intersection of law and governance, this book will be of considerable interest to those working in these fields; but also to those engaged in other interdisciplinary areas, including society and technology, the digital humanities, technology laws and policy, global law and policy, as well as the surveillance society.