Titolo programma / Ente finanziatore: PRIN 2022 -PNRR
Titolo del progetto: Freedom of Information, Democracy and the Environment: an empirical study on the Italian case (FIDE-I)
Coordinatore di unità Lorenzo Cicatiello
Settori ERC coinvolti:
1. SH - Social Sciences and Humanities
2. SH2_1 Political systems, governanc
3. SH1_15 Public economics; political economics; law and economics
Data inizio progetto: 30/11/2023
Data fine progetto: 30/11/2025
Codice progetto: P2022JLX7S
CUP: C53D23009920001
Acronimo: FIDE-I
Website:
Abstract: The proposal brings together two teams in a multidisciplinary study of the implementation of transparency, freedom of information and civic access to administrative documents in Italy.
The study will analyze transparency and freedom of information in the field of environmental policy, where emerging conflicts pose new challenges to established rules of access to information that date back to the late 1990’s.
A theoretical framework is developed based on the existing literature and previous research by the members of the two teams, to define the relevance and nature of transparency in democratic regimes, the determinants of performance in transparency policy implementation, the role of civic action groups in mediating the flow of open government information, and the emerging role of transparency in environmental policy and environmental action.
Quantitative research is conducted on a sample of public bodies of different administrative levels (municipalities, regions and agencies) to analyze to what extent they inform the public on access rights and procedures, and a field experiment is conducted to test their responsiveness to access requests. Correlation with contextual and organizational variable will help explain the determinants of good practice.
Qualitative research is used to interpret the quantitative data, and to understand to what extent current transparency regulations and practices fulfill demand of civic society organizations which are called on by democratic theory to act as intermediators of information and advocacy.
The project will contribute to scientific knowledge in the fields of democratic theory, administrative studies and public economics. It will greatly contribute to the strengthening of the research communities in the two hosting institutions, where interdisciplinary collaboration will lead to new pathways for research. Finally, it will produce guidelines and non-technical materials that will be shared, disseminated and discussed with stakeholders to contribute to better planning of transparency policy and environmental action.