The open flow of communication and the access to information are seen as essential for democracy as well as the civic control of public and private power upon which democracy depends. Politics itself can be interpreted as a flow of messages in a public sphere where problems are identified, policy alternatives are put to the test, and agendas are being set. Openness and knowledge sharing is also thought to promote the creativity, innovation, and competitiveness needed for keeping up in an ever globalizing knowledge economy.
Political power is also based on the control of communication and information, i.e., through what has been called “communication power” (Castells 2009). However, communication power may thus just as well be used for closing down dialogue, withholding information, and spreading disinformation.
The Nordic countries usually score high with regard to openness with their comparatively high levels of civic control of public administration and public participation in policy-making. They record correspondingly low levels of corruption and public distrust.
Limits and failures of Nordic openness are usually interpreted as exceptions to the rule, or—to the extent that they are eventually made the object of public scrutiny—as proof of the rule. The long-standing preference for consensus rather than open conflict in the public sphere and in the policy-making process has not obscured the image of Nordic openness.
The conference organizers invite abstracts (max. 150 words) of papers addressing the issues of openness, power and communication understood in a wide sense. National and cross-national papers from all social scientific and historical disciplines are welcome. Papers may address themes, such as the limits of openness, openness of political power shifts, openness of consensual government, or more broadly, the issue of what may be communicated and what should be closed for access in politics.
The conference is jointly organized by the projects “Nordic Openness: Opportunities and Limits of a Consensual Political Culture” (NO) and “Power Shifts in Agenda Setting – The Making and the Challenging of the Finnish Competition State” (POSH).
Deadlines
Abstracts: 6 December 2010.
Papers: 1 May 2011.
Contacts
Johannes Kananen, Researcher, Nordic Openness & Power Shifts in Agenda Setting (johannes.kananen@helsinki.fi)
Carl Marklund, Researcher, Nordic Openness (carl.marklund@helsinki.fi)