Unveiling the concept of transparency: its limits, varieties and the creation of a typology/Desvelando o conceito de transparencia: seus limites, suas variedades e a criacao de uma tipologia/Desvelando el concepto de transparencia: sus limites, sus variedades y la creacion de una tipologia

• Published in: Cadernos EBAPE.BR 2020-04, Vol.18 (2), p.237
• Main Author: Rodrigues, Karina Furtado
• Format: Article
• Language: Portuguese
• ISSN: 1679-3951; 1679-3951
• DOI: 10.1590/1679-395173192x

This article aims to unveil the concept of transparency considering its limits, varieties and forms of identification. The premise is that secrecy is vital in the execution of some public policies, which brings different parameters to the analysis of transparency in these contexts if compared with policies that do not need secrecy. The purpose of this article is to fill a gap in the national and international literature, which disregards the different levels of access to information of public organizations citizens can have. Therefore, through the application of Goertz (2006a) model of concept formation on Michener and Bersch's (2013) concept of transparency, and also considering the transparency varieties and directions mentioned by Hood and Heald (2006), the study proposes a typology with four non- mutually exclusive subtypes of transparency in organizations: the fuller transparency, the nominal transparency, the conditional transparency and the transparency in the allocation and management of sensitive information. The typology reveals a myriad of different layers of access to information and analysis that enable more precise transparency evaluations of public institutions. Finally, the definitions and the analytical possibilities of each of the subtypes are discussed. Keywords: Transparency. Conceptualization. Adjectivizing. Access to information. State secrecy. Este artigo se propoe a desvelar o conceito de transparencia levando em conta seus limites, suas variedades e suas formas de identificacao. Parte-se da premissa de que o sigilo e vital na realizacao de algumas politicas publicas, o que faz com que a analise de transparencia nesses contextos tenha parametros distintos de politicas que nao necessitam de sigilo. Almeja-se preencher uma lacuna na literatura, que desconsidera os diferentes niveis de acesso a informacao pelos cidadaos existentes nas organizacoes publicas. Por meio da aplicacao do metodo de construcao conceitual de Goertz (2006a) ao conceito de transparencia de Michener e Bersch (2013), tambem considerando as variedades e os tipos de transparencia abordados por Hood e Heald (2006), propoe-se uma tipologia que conta com quatro subtipos de transparencia nas organizacoes: a (1) transparencia plena; a (2) transparencia nominal; a (3) transparencia condicionada; e a (4) transparencia na atribuicao e gestao de informacoes sigilosas. A tipologia revela uma gama de diferentes niveis e formas de transparencia nas organizacoes, nao mutuamente e