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The "Politics" section of the article about Transparency (behavior) has the following Wikipedia comment: For the notion of "Government transparency" Wikipedia suggets to look at the Open Government article. However, this article is very related to the OGP initiative and not to transparency in government as a general concept.

Thus, I would suggest to modify the "Politics" subtitile to make it "Government" and include more specific information regarding the meaning of government transparency.

The current version of the "Politics" section is the following:

The right and the means to examine the process of decision making is known as transparency. In politics, transparency is used as a means of holding public officials accountable and fighting corruption. When a government's meetings are open to the press and the public, its budgets may be reviewed by anyone, and its laws and decisions are open to discussion, it is seen as transparent. It is not clear however if this provides less opportunity for the authorities to abuse the system for their own interests.

When military authorities classify their plans as secret, transparency is absent. This can be seen as either positive or negative; positive because it can increase national security, negative because it can lead to corruption and, in extreme cases, a military dictatorship.

While a liberal democracy can be a plutocracy, where decisions are made behind locked doors and the people have fewer possibilities to influence politics between the elections, a participative democracy is more closely connected to the will of the people.[citation needed] Participative democracy, built on transparency and everyday participation, has been used officially in northern Europe for decades. In the northern European country Sweden, public access to government documents became a law as early as 1766. It has officially been adopted as an ideal to strive for by the rest of EU, leading to measures like freedom of information laws and laws for lobby transparency.

To promote transparency in politics, Hans Peter Martin, Paul van Buitenen (Europa Transparant) and Ashley Mote decided to cooperate under the name Platform for Transparency (PfT) in 2005. Similar organizations that promotes transparency are Transparency International and the Sunlight Foundation.

A recent political movement to emerge in conjunction with the demands for transparency is the Pirate Party, a label for a number of political parties across different countries who advocate freedom of information, direct democracy, network neutrality, and the free sharing of knowledge.

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Edited version (draft):

Government transparency means that State actors act in an open manner, shedding light over information regarding their activities, decisions, rules, expenditures, among others. Transparency is usually understood as a precondition for citizens to hold public officials accountable and control government policies. When a government's meetings are open to the press and the public, its budgets may be reviewed by anyone, and its laws and decisions are open to discussion, it is seen as transparent. Although the notion of transparency has increasingly been employed by different actors, such as States, NGOs and Multilateral Organizations, not one single definition has been generally agreed upon.

In terms of the effects of government trasnparency, some believe that transparency is an important element of good governance and institutional quality, which are drivers of economic growth and public welfare. Also, Susan Rose-Ackerman argues government transparency is crucial in the fight against corruption, since although the public can be an important check on the arbitrary exercise of power by government, that can only take place if the government provides information on its actions. On the other hand, it has also been argued that increasing the transparency of politics can reduce the quality of the politicians that are recruited by parties.

Along with citizen participation and accountability, transparency is one of the principles of the Open Government Partnership. As Beth Noveck points out, it is necessary to think beyond transparency since transparency for its own sake does not contribute much to engender openness and participation. Nevertheless, transparency is also referred to as a precondition for citizen participation, since people should know the policy decisions that are being made in order to to have a say about them.

In legal terms, government transparency is crystalized in Freedom of Information laws. Although these laws vary country by country, they usually have two main elements: the right to access information and the obligation of active or proactive transparency. The first element recognizes citizens' right to file a petition for public information and receiving an answer with the information requested. The second element refers to the obligation of government to disclose certain information and documents without a specific request. The information that should be made available varies in each national legislation, but it ranges around government policies and decisions, budget, public procurement, structure, staff, citizen participation mechanisms, among many others.

Many civil society groups and NGOs promote government transparency and anti-corruption policies both at the national and international level. Among them, we can find Transparency International, Article 19, Access Now and Sunlight Foundation. A recent political movement to emerge in conjunction with the demands for transparency is the Pirate Party, a label for a number of political parties across different countries who advocate freedom of information, direct democracy, network neutrality, and the free sharing of knowledge.