Suchergebnisse

Introduction -- Conceptualizing whistleblowing - Who blows whistles? : insiders, outsiders, and their networks -- Dark networks that shed light : the case of the Chronicle of current events -- The curious grapevine in reverse : human rights organizations? : whistleblowing networks -- WikiLeaks's rise, relevance, and power -- The wide world of whistleblowing on the Web -- Exfiltrators -- Conclusion.

"Despite laws such as the Freedom of Information Act and Government in the Sunshine Act among others that promise an open and transparent government, maintaining the secrecy of government actions and proceedings remains too often the default reaction of federal government officials. In this book Jason Arnold explores the surprising extent of government secrecy in both national security and domestic policy areas in administrations since the 1970s. He lays out the costs of excessive secrecy, shows how government agencies keep their proceedings secret, and suggests remedies to promote a more open government. This is a timely contribution to the national debates about government secrecy sparked by the actions of Edward Snowden and the revelation about the extent of secret government spying on civilians here and abroad"--

A great deal of research has suggested that scholarly and popular concerns about low levels of citizen political knowledge are exaggerated. One implication of that research is that political history would have unfolded just as it did even if electorates had been more politically informed. This paper presents evidence that counters these claims, showing an infusion of electorally relevant information in twenty-seven democracies would have likely led to a lot of vote 'switching', ultimately changing the composition of many governments. The paper also directly and systematically examines what we might call the 'enlightened natural constituency' hypothesis, which expects lower-income citizens to vote disproportionately for left parties once armed with more political knowledge. While the basic argument about how political ignorance disproportionately affects the left's natural constituency is not new, the hypothesis has thus far not been tested. The analysis provides provisional support for the hypothesis. [Copyright Elsevier Ltd.]