Why are there now more than 100 freedom of information laws around the world, even though they help opponents and hinder governments? In a new book, published this month by Manchester University Press, Ben Worthy investigates. He concludes that the main reason is that as a symbolic pledge in opposition FOI laws are hard to resist. Once in power these promises are hard to back down from, though experience suggests that proposed laws are often watered down before being enacted. These findings are summarised here.
Why don’t more politicians react to freedom of information (FOI) like Lyndon Johnson? Why don’t more of them run a mile when presented with the possibility of giving the public a legal right to ask for information from the government? When the idea of an FOI law was suggested to Johnson in 1966 by a fellow Democrat Congressman the US President responded, after some swearing, ‘I thought you were on my side?’ As his Press Secretary explained:
LBJ… hated the very idea of the Freedom of Information Act; hated the thought of journalists rummaging in government closets and opening government files; hated them challenging the official view of reality.
For any budding politician, FOI appears to be the ultimate political boomerang. It helps your opponents. It hinders you.
To make FOI laws even less appealing, there are no votes in them. Merlyn Rees, a Home Secretary who fought hard against an FOI law in the 1970s, once exclaimed that ‘the Guardian can go on for as long as it likes about open government… but I can tell you that in my own constituency of 75,000 electors I would be hard pressed to find many who would be interested’. Only in India, where the Right to information Act was part of an anti-corruption campaign, have FOI laws responded to broad public enthusiasm. So how is it that there are now more than 100 FOI laws around the world?
The question is really why would a politician support FOI in the first place? Sometimes they believe in openness and sometimes leaders who don’t believe in it have it forced upon them, as Theresa May has discovered over Brexit. Other times it is for pure advantage, because a scandal makes it hard to avoid (as in Ireland), so a politician can ensure that they get information in the future or because it has promised FOI as part of a coalition deal (as in India). It is also about context. Often FOI laws are pushed through when there is lots of other constitutional or legal change going on. Across the world, as Rick Snell points out, organised groups and enthusiastic individuals, often ‘outsiders’, push for an FOI law when other key people are distracted or looking the other way.
There is also the symbolism. Promising an FOI law sends out all sorts of positive messages of radicalism, change and empowerment that new governments find difficult to resist. This is especially the case for an opposition politician coming into power, as with Tony Blair after the ‘sleaze’ and secrecy of John Major. Committing to a law tells voters ‘we are different’ and also offers to give ‘the people’ a new right. FOI also carries a pleasing moral angle for politicians: ‘you can look inside as we’ve got nothing to hide (unlike the last lot) etc.’. All these reasons make FOI laws, at least on paper, hard to resist.
The problem for politicians is that they can overdo it. In 1996 Tony Blair gave a speech where he referred to FOI as ‘not just important in itself. It is part of bringing our politics up to date, of letting politics catch up with the aspirations of people’ and went on to say it would help involve more people in politics and increase trust in government. Blair’s words came back to haunt him, and stop him, when he wanted to water down the law.
The problem is that when the enthusiasm dims FOI is then hard to back out of. Politicians often display public support but have private regrets. Once in power there are fights behind closed doors as regretful enthusiasts and those who weren’t paying attention wake up and fight back: some laws are lost or put on hold and most are watered down. Parliaments, civil society and the media try to keep proposed laws alive. Those FOI laws that survive often emerge as a compromise between the hopes of campaigners and the fears of government.
Once FOI laws are up and running the split between supporters and opponents continues. Lyndon Johnson refused to have a photographer at the signing of the law. Tony Blair quaked at his own imbecility for championing it, devoting a medium sized rant in his autobiography to his own stupidity:
Freedom of Information. Three harmless words. I look at those words as I write them, and feel like shaking my head till it drops off my shoulders. You idiot. You naive, foolish, irresponsible nincompoop.
He went on to claim it was used only by journalists and mainly deployed as a ‘weapon’ (none of which is true). David Cameron, despite talking up Open Data, also felt FOI was a ‘buggeration factor’ and tried to reduce the strength of the law.
Yet outside of government FOI laws are popular. The laws have been used recently to find out, for example, about the hundreds of council tax arrears notices sent to councillors, ward-level Brexit voting figures and the number of patients stranded in hospitals. It has even led to the mass resignation of a parish council.
So FOI laws get here because they are hard to resist in opposition but hard to back out from in power. Even Lyndon Johnson signed the law and, as his Press Secretary pointed out, went and took all the credit for it afterwards.
About the author
Dr Ben Worthy is a Lecturer in Politics at Birkbeck College. His new book, The Politics of Freedom of Information: How and why governments pass laws that threaten their power, was published by Manchester University Press this month. You can read chapter one here and order the book here. Prior to joining Birkbeck he was a Research Associate at the Constitution Unit, working on projects on FOI.
The Constitution Unit Blog 
A final note: In constructing an introduction, make sure the introduction clearly reflects the goal or purpose on the assignment which the thesis presents not only the topic to be discussed but also states a clear position about that topic that you just will help and grow throughout the paper. In shorter papers, the introduction is usually only one particular or two paragraphs, nevertheless it might possibly be several paragraphs within a longer paper.
For Longer Papers
Although for short essays the introduction is usually just a single paragraph, longer argument or research papers may require a alot more substantial introduction. The initially paragraph may very well consist of just the attention grabber and some narrative about the problem. Then you could very well have a person or far more paragraphs that make available background relating to the main topics on the paper and current the overall argument, concluding with your thesis statement.
Below can be a sample of an introduction that may be less effective given that it doesn’t apply the principles discussed earlier mentioned.
An Ineffective Introduction
Anybody takes advantage of math during their entire lives. Some people use math relating to the job as adults, and others put into use math when they were being kids. The topic I have chosen to jot down about for this paper is how I use math in my life both of those as a child and as an adult. I use math to balance my checkbook and to budget my monthly expenses as an adult. When I was a child, I utilized math to run a lemonade stand. I will be talking further about these things in my paper.
Within the introduction over, the opening line does not serve to grab the reader’s attention. Instead, it is often a statement of an obvious and mundane fact. The second sentence is usually not very certain. A much more effective attention grabber may point out a distinct, and perhaps surprising, instance when adults use math in their daily lives, in order to clearly show the reader why this is like as important topic to consider.
Next the writer “announces” her topic by stating, “The topic I have chosen to put in writing about…” Although it is necessary to introduce your targeted topic, you desire to avoid making generic announcements that reference your assignment. This technique just isn’t as sophisticated and may distract the reader from your larger purpose for crafting the essay. Instead, you will probably try to make the reader see why this is these kinds of an important topic to discuss.
Finally, this sample introduction is lacking a clear thesis statement. The writer concludes by using a vague statement: “I will be talking extra about these things in my paper.” This kind of statement may be referred to as a “purpose statement,” in which the writer states the topics that will be discussed. However, it is not really yet working as a thesis statement considering that it fails to make an argument or claim about those topics. A thesis statement for this essay would clearly tell the reader what “things” you will be discussing and what point you will make about them.
Now let’s glance at how the over principles could be incorporated greater effectively into an introduction.
A Extra Effective Introduction
“A penny saved is really a penny earned,” the well-known quote by Ben Franklin, can be an expression I have never extremely understood, mainly because to me it would seem that any penny-whether saved or spent-is however earned no matter what is done with it. My earliest memories of earning and spending money are when I was ten years old when I would sell Dixie cups of too-sweet lemonade and bags of salty popcorn to the neighborhood kids. From that early age, I learned the importance of money management and then the math skills involved. I learned that there were being four quarters within a dollar, and if I bought a non-food item-like a handful of balloons-that I was going to need to get to come up with six cents for every dollar I spent. I also knew that Kool-Aid packets ended up twenty five cents every or that I could save money and get 5 of these for a dollar. Today, however, money management involves knowing a lot more than which combinations of 10-cent, five-cent, and one-penny candies I can get for a dollar. Proper money management today involves knowing interest rates, balancing checkbooks, paying taxes, estimating my paycheck, and budgeting to make ends meet from month-to-month.
Within the number one line the writer takes advantage of a well-known quotation to introduce her topic.
The writer follows this “attention-grabber” with certain examples of earning and spending money. Compare how the distinct details on the second example paint a superior picture for your reader about what the writer learned about money as a child, rather than this general statement: “As a child, I made use of math to run a lemonade stand.” Inside 1st introduction, this statement leaves the reader to guess how the writer employed math, but inside the second introduction we can actually see what the child did and what she learned.
Discover, too, how the reader makes the transition from the lessons of childhood to the real focus of her paper on this sentence: “Today, however, money management involves knowing….”
This transition sentence effectively connects the opening narrative to the main point on the essay, her thesis: “Proper money management today involves knowing interest rates, balancing checkbooks, paying taxes, estimating my paycheck, and budgeting to make ends meet from month-to-month .” This thesis also maps out for your reader the main points (underlined below) that will be discussed around the essay.
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