Asian Journal of Comparative Politics

The article intends to investigate the relationship between corruption and poverty based on the panel data of SAARC countries over the period 1996–2019. We employed the panel ARDL of pooled mean group (PMG) technique to analyze the data and focus on capability poverty, using the human development index (HDI) as a proxy for poverty. The empirical findings of PMG of the ARDL model suggest that an increase in corruption score (COC) (i.e. decrease in corruption) and increase in women’s labor force participation rate (WLFPR) seem to have a significant impact either in eradicating poverty or increasing social welfare in the long run as well as in the short run. A random effect (RE) model also identified a significant positive relationship between corruption score and HDI, and WLFPR and HDI. A Dumitrescu-Hurlin pairwise panel Granger non-causality test detected a bilateral causality relationship between COC and HDI, and WLFPR and HDI, while unilateral causality ran from WLFPR to COC. The article contributes to examining the dynamics between corruption and poverty from the governance aspect, taking South Asia as a case study.

The relations between Pakistan and the United States, throughout the course of history, have witnessed many ups and downs. At times, when their interests were aligned, strong socio-economic and military cooperation was seen between the two states. Yet, on other occasions they were at odds with and distant from each other. However, post 9/11, Pakistan–US relations were at its zenith, when Pakistan became the frontline ally of the US in the war against terrorism in Afghanistan, and the US granted Pakistan the prestigious status of non-NATO ally. Soon after, though, the partnership between the two states was in troubled waters: when the US repeatedly violated Pakistan’s sovereignty through drone strikes and covert ops, it diplomatically painted Pakistan as the bad guy by claiming it to be part of the problem (terrorism), not the solution, and by promoting India within the region. Furthermore, when Pakistan became part of China’s New Silk Road initiative, commonly known as the Belt and Road Initiative, Pakistan–US relations saw its lowest point in history. This article critically analyzes post-9/11 Pakistan–US relations by application of two mainstream theories of international relations in tandem: Realism and (Neo)structural Realism. Realism explains the US foreign policy rationale, while Structural Realism explains Pakistan’s foreign policy choices in relation to the US.

In November 2020, the government of Bangladesh announced plans to erect a 25-foot-tall sculpture of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in the national memorial located in the country's capital, Dhaka. This announcement caused a massive uproar among the religious ulema and quickly turned into a quasi-mass scale movement, sparking a torrent of political and religious rhetoric from both sides. This article argues that behind the religious rhetoric, the true cause underlying this fracas was purely political in nature, and tied to the clash of two contrasting nationalist dogmas. The country's Islamic political parties and the Qawmi madrasas leaders face a clear and perceived threat from the nationalist narratives expounded by the ruling political party, the Bangladesh Awami League, and this movement was a retaliatory attempt and will not be the last.

With the dawn of the 21st century, a global political paradigmatic shift was witnessed; no longer was Europe considered to be the focal point of geopolitics. Now, all eyes were on the Asian continent; with the brewing Afghan conflict, the arguably rising global hegemony contender China, the convoluted Iranian crisis, rapidly rising economic powers in South-East Asia, the key strategic power of the Indian Ocean and India and, amidst all, the dramatically increasing footprint of the United States. Consequently, as states with opposing interests were ferociously competing for regional dominance, a great degree of political polarization was induced in the regional geopolitical structure, which in turn forced political realignments. Old foes became friends (India and the United States), whereas decades old alliances broke (Pakistan and the United States). This dramatic regional political paradigm shift has forced Pakistan to completely transform its foreign policy, from a pro-western to an eastern/regional approach. This article explores how the changing regional geopolitical dynamics is affecting Pakistan’s foreign policy. It does so by critically analysing the geopolitical realignments in the region and the myriad regional conflicts/crises, while predominantly highlighting their implications for Pakistan. A mix-approach based on descriptive and critical analytical qualitative research methods has been adopted to conduct this study.

Religious minorities are victims of political isolation and persecution in societies, where they are subject to violence and discrimination. This study was undertaken in a terrorism-affected area to explore those elements that subjugate and suppress religious minorities’ political participation and representation. To conduct an in-depth analysis, a qualitative inquiry was used for data collection and analysis. The researcher interviewed 13 Christians, seven Hindus, and six Sikhs, using a purposive sampling technique and a semi-structured interview guide. The primary data were analyzed using the thematic analysis technique. The researcher found that some of the underlying factors behind the political persecution are leadership vacuum, political neglect, post-election negligence, vote dislocation, political ignorance, and political subordination. This study presented a framework for policymakers to solve minorities’ political problems, and for researchers to better understand the minorities’ political oppression on local and international levels.

Sectarian activists in Pakistan are occasionally arrested by law enforcement agencies in sectarian-terrorism crimes but very rarely convicted by the courts. Contemporary research mainly relates slow convictions in sectarian crimes to defects in the state's criminal justice system. But this article connects anti-terrorism courts’ (ATCs) slow convictions and large-scale acquittals in sectarian-terrorism crimes to vague anti-terror laws, judges’ and witnesses’ security concerns and the incompetence of the prosecution and judges. The article applies the mixed method of research by using data from personal interviews, online sources, newspapers, research journals, articles and books. It argues that undefined anti-terrorism laws, judges’ security concerns and sectarian activists’ terrorization of judges and eyewitnesses add to the ATCs’ slow convictions in sectarian-terrorism crimes in the Punjab. Moreover, prosecution and judges’ incompetence and their inclination towards Islamic principles in judgements show bias in the application of sectarian-terrorism related laws that have been causing large-scale acquittals in the ATCs.

There is little research done on the social agenda of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). As an analysis of the organization's social agenda is relevant to the challenges and opportunities offered by COVID-19, this article aims to draw lessons for SAARC from the development model of the European Union (EU). Erstwhile literature on SAARC has not compared its progress in terms of social development with that of the EU. Hence, this study aims to answer the following questions: What are the key differences between the social development approaches of the two organizations, and what can SAARC learn from the EU's social model? The analysis in this research is largely based on an extensive review of official documents from the EU and SAARC. This article argues that collective social development is in line with SAARC's functionalist approach that prioritizes cooperation in non-controversial areas like human security. Based on the comparative analysis, this article proposes a three-tier social development approach for comprehensive social development across South Asia. This study argues that, despite its socio-economic and political challenges, SAARC has a lot to gain from adopting the EU’s social model.

The current article aims to analyse the effectiveness of the conversion of the Siachen Glacier into a peace park on India–Pakistan relations. It further investigates how the peace park can build mutual understanding leading to cooperation and peace between the two countries. The article presents the conceptual framework for adequate supervision of the Siachen Glacier jointly by India and Pakistan to mitigate the existing tensions and conflicts through tourism within the context of the tourism–peace nexus and peace park concept. The Siachen Peace Park proposition offers an amazing way out for the policymakers to diffuse tensions between the military establishments of India and Pakistan. Both the nations have been losing the lives of their soldiers among the snow-capped peaks not due to any gunfight but mainly because of climatic extremities and frostbite. The suggestion of the Siachen Peace Park has been explicated with the help of a four-stage peace park conversion model conceived by the authors, which gives a conceptual understanding of the outcomes of this Peace Park for both countries.

Overall, in Sri Lankan public schools, the student–teacher ratio is very low. The number of teachers is considerably greater than the number of classes; sometimes the former is double or more than double the latter. In a school in which all the teachers are individually deployed in each class, many teachers have to remain idle. Thus, every day a certain number of teachers remain idle. This situation points to two issues. Firstly, in Sri Lankan public schools, resources are underutilized and hence costs are not minimized. Secondly, since there is an excess of teachers in schools, a formal and logical method is required to determine the optimal number of teachers. This article tries to develop a formula to determine the required number of teachers for a school, and thereby to find ways to minimize costs when employing teachers. Primary data on classes, teachers and subjects offered with respect to 40 public schools in the North Central Province were collected. When empirical data on the number of teachers in sampled schools were compared with calculated teacher requirements in terms of the developed formula, it was found that school authorities are underutilizing teachers. The article concludes that (a) based on the developed formula to determine the required number of teachers, many public schools have an excess of teachers and hence current transfer policy for school teachers is not logical, (b) teacher requirement can be decided according to the developed formula and (c) by adopting one teacher-two subjects-one school and one teacher-one subject-more schools models, government authorities can minimize costs further.

The socio-political conditions of Pakistan are not good for many religious and ethnic minority groups. This study explores the frustration and motivation of Muslim and non-Muslim young students around political participation in this environment. A survey research design was followed to achieve this objective. Seven-hundred secondary school students affiliated with Hindu, Christian, Muslim and Ahmadiyya communities participated in the study. A self-reported questionnaire was used to gauge the respondents’ political efficacy, attitude towards democracy and motivation for expected political participation in the country. The findings demonstrate students’ concerns, to varying extents, about the performance of political institutions in the country. The religious affiliations of the participants have significant influence on their motivation to contribute to political affairs. The results are alarming for a country with an uncertain democratic record for religious and ethnic minorities.

Religious mobilization often takes the form of engagement with “the woman question”: how should women as carriers of culture comport themselves? This article shows that many of the debates over the role of women and religion in South Asia are misunderstood when they are seen as instances of religious fundamentalism. Rather, the theoretical framework to make sense of public religion and gender debates should be through the lens of postcolonial nationalism. The creation and consolidation of the nation is what is at stake—not the creation of the religious community as such. In order to make this argument, the article offers both a review of the literature on secularism and gender as well as short case studies from India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. These three former British colonies have each struggled to arrive at a secular settlement and often the contestation over the place of religion has centered on the rules and roles of women in these societies.

This article primarily focuses on how the increasing US–China competing strategies in Asia-Pacific affect the policies of South Asian rivals India and Pakistan when, on the one hand, the US as part of its offshore balancing grand strategy has been increasing its strategic partnership with India through the transfer of emerging technologies in terms of military modernization process, and on the other hand, China and Pakistan have improved their geo-economic and geostrategic partnership as part of the Chinese grand strategy via the Belt and Road Initiative while enabling Pakistan to produce effective countermeasures against its potential adversary. The article presumes that, in doing so, such competing strategies frame a quadrangle setting comprising of US and India to deter and contain China on the one hand and China and Pakistan to produce countermeasures and try to create a balance to potentially prevent the risk of conflict in South Asia out of such competing strategies at the quadrangle order conceived here. However, in fact, neither the US nor rising China would desire such a possibility of conflict otherwise unintendedly occurring from the intense US–China competing strategies while affecting the policies of the South Asian rivals. The article concludes that the shaping of this quadrangle framework may bring both opportunities and challenges for the South Asian rivals. It also concludes that the more intense the competition between the US and China becomes, the more intense its implications could be on the South Asian rivals, while the reduced tension between China and the US, although unlikely, would have reduced pressure on India and Pakistan relations as well.

In donor aid programs, the claims of causal links between inputs and outputs are crucial to establish the effectiveness of aid. As a result, there has been ample research on the degree and direction of correlation and causality between aid and poverty reduction. While evaluating end outcomes has its merits, this article aims to assess how some donor aid programs come under early criticism and/or are dropped or modified in order to ensure their continuation. This article examines a tender award dispute in a forestry program in Nepal, and traces the causal contribution of actors and actions that obstructed and changed the decisions related to the program implementation plan of this multi-million-dollar initiative. The article employs the process tracing method to search, collect, and assess evidence on the tender dispute case of the selected program. By tracing the logical sequence of evidence, this study establishes causality, linking the hypothesized causes and their effects to explain how the tender award decision that was announced by the lead donor and endorsed by the Government of Nepal was eventually nullified.

This article aims to understand the development of the Sino–Sri Lankan relationship from ancient to contemporary times and its overall impact on the Indo–Sri Lankan relationship and on India as a leader in the South Asian region. China has been investing heavily in Sri Lanka and several other South Asian countries in the name of economic development and upliftment. It has formed diplomatic ties with Sri Lanka and has provided immense economic, military and other forms of assistance and has reduced India’s involvement. The building of the Maritime Silk Route and the Belt and Road Initiative have been dream projects for China, and so the article analyses the assistance provided in terms of strategy that the Chinese may be planning. Based on the facts and evidence provided, the article will end on a scenario that could most likely take place based on the trajectory of the events and relationships.

Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) projects in Tajikistan are significant due to Tajikistan's geostrategic importance in the region. Tajikistan has channeled its geo-strategic values and established diplomatic and economic relations with regional and extra-regional states. China and Tajikistan's diplomatic relations were started in 1997, which marked another milestone when countries resolved their border disputes bilaterally in 2021. Since China introduced its BRI, its existing diplomatic relations with Tajikistan have changed to close economic ties. Hence, it uplifted the pace of existing economic projects between China and Tajikistan, with the introduction of new projects, some branded as BRI projects, and others are complementing it. In this scenario, China through the BRI provides an opportunity for Pakistan and Tajikistan to enhance and strengthen their economic and diplomatic ties. Both Pakistan and Tajikistan need a great deal of cooperation for further progress of both states in contemporary times. It is important to identify the ongoing process in the region to pinpoint the future policy options for further development. This article analyzes the geostrategic importance of Tajikistan and its relations with regional and extra-regional states. It also focusses on the concluded, ongoing, and planned projects regarding enhancing the geostrategy of the states that are in line with the BRI. Further, it explores the existing Pakistan–Tajikistan relations and new prospects, along with the challenges in future prospects.

China's growing involvement in Central Asia economically, culturally, politically and even militarily has been a contentious topic for people from the region. While some view China's involvement as offering Central Asian countries an opportunity for advancement, others view it in more negative ways, with China having tremendous influence in the affairs of their country. In this article, we present our findings from a survey that we conducted at the American University of Central Asia in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Our questions elicited responses that focus on perceptions of trade with China and China's actions regarding COVID-19, which are both polarizing issues in Kyrgyzstan and Central Asia overall.

This article highlights various forms of uncivil behavior among Indonesian students which may become the seed of conflict, including bullying, which reflect how fragile youth civility is. Civility and incivility are different yet linked concepts that manifest with complexity in schools and beyond. Anecdotal evidence of incivility among young people is present in various forums, including social media and news coverage. Based on a mixed-methods design of quantitative and qualitative research, this study shows that incivility, bullying, intolerant, and aggressive behavior are prevalent both within and beyond the school environment in Indonesia. However, these uncivil behaviors have not been addressed with a sense of urgency in the country. It is hoped that this article will shed some light on the seriousness of uncivil behavior among Indonesian youth, which requires close attention on the part of schools, policy-makers and society at large.

While predominant views within party fragmentation literature suggest the importance of the sociological and institutional hypothesis, the Indonesian case provides a new perspective on the issue at hand. Using district-level elections, this article recognizes the weight of existing perspectives, but posits the need to empirically assess the effect of certain seat apportionment methods in the proportional representation system—a much under-explored argument within the literature. This article shows that Indonesia’s methods for allocating seats, the Hare and Sainte-Laguë methods, have been relatively benign in creating party fragmentation. Yet the latter method has been more favorable for small parties due to its deeper bent toward the disproportionality of votes. Additionally, given that major parties often perform unevenly across district elections, the nature of party competition at local politics has greatly diverged from that of the national arena. This article argues that this diversity has been driven partly by the strong influence of ethnic and geographical dispersion, making it hard for major parties to preside over local politics. Thus the concept of party nationalization hardly exists, and party fragmentation could be the default of the party system at local politics in Indonesia for years to come.

States always trade across and explore opportunities for relevant information on reforms capable of responding to progressive demands of domestic growth and national development. Presently, the traditional development landscape has expanded to include new actors not only devising new development models but also providing a variegated supply of developmental know-how in support of global prosperity – one of the most visible case studies being China’s South–South-based cooperation with Africa via the Forum on China–Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). In their development cooperation, FOCAC-based initiatives posture to bridge inequality and disparity between both sides often through the transfer of knowledge. Regarding this, the Forum employs knowledge sharing as a combination of capacity development initiatives in the form of training and educational, technical, human capacity-building and human resource development, including technology cooperation. However, citing marginal impact on industrialization processes of African countries, sceptics maintain that FOCAC’s trail in the so-called ‘second continent’ translates as a systematic imposition of a Beijing-centric paradigm of globalization. Notwithstanding, given the promise of cross-cultural cooperation in knowledge production, rather than succumb to monocausal critiques on sub-optimal development assistance, this article evaluates the prospects of Nigeria capitalizing on China’s stock of development know-how more strategically.

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has attracted support and critique for its legitimacy and potential success. Its opponents see challenges more than prospects because of American inattention and resistance, and its proponents see prospects more than challenges because of the attention from the rest of the world. While both sides use valid reasons for their explicit or implicit views, they focus on the legitimacy by its taken-for-granted status. The BRI project as innovation is at the legitimisation process stage. To address the legitimisation of the BRI project innovation, we use rhetorical theory to analyse the Chinese official report in 2019, the American versus European media response to the BRI project and the US direct response to the BRI in the Indo-Pacific Strategy in 2019. Our exploratory findings show insights into the subjects, industries and regions. Firstly, the American media attention far exceeds the European media attention. Secondly, the American media attention and direct response to the BRI highlight the political issues, and the European media attention highlights economic issues. The Chinese official report mentions European countries, and excludes the USA. Thirdly, it uses Pakistan more frequently than other countries or regions in its achievement report, but the US has not mentioned Pakistan at all in its Indo-Pacific Strategy. Fourthly, the US political logic diverges from the logic of the BRI project, while the European economic logic converges to the logic of the BRI project. Based on these findings, we contribute to the legitimisation process of innovation, rhetorical theory and policy implications in the world.

Constitutional monarchies have proved to be resilient, and some have made substantive political interventions even though their positions are mostly hereditary, without granted constitutional channels to do so. This article examines how constitutional monarchs can influence political affairs and what impact royal intervention can have on politics. I argue that constitutional monarchs affect politics indirectly by influencing the preferences of the public who have de jure power to influence political leaders. The analyses herein show that constitutional monarchs do not indiscriminately intervene in politics, but their decisions to intervene reflect the public’s preferences. First, constitutional monarchs with little public approval become self-restraining and do not attempt to assert their political preferences. Second, they are more likely to intervene in politics when the public is less satisfied about the incumbent government. These findings are illustrated with historical narratives regarding the political involvement of King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand in the 2000s.

What makes corrupt investment locations still attractive to investing economies? This article examines whether states’ tendency to ignore corruption in investment targets is due to their being accustomed to corruption at home, or is instead due to a perception that despite flaws institutions can be counted on to remain functional. We argue that economies where corruption is viewed permissively would still likely invest in states equally perceived as corrupt but not necessarily due to shared collective tolerance. Rather, a perception of institutional dependability motivates the selection of investment locations, regardless of how people in investing states view corruption. To test our conjecture, we analyzed bilateral foreign direct investment outflows for 96 countries between 2001 and 2012 using exponential random graph models alongside value-based typologies for corruption and institutional confidence. Our results suggest that, overall, it is trust in institutions and not necessarily trepidation about corruption that mediates the selection of investment locations.

This article analyzes the phenomenon of single candidates in Indonesia's 2020 local elections, where the number increased compared to the previous local elections. Although initially local elections with single candidates were not intended, by a ruling of the Constitutional Court a local election must still be carried out even if there is only a single pair of candidates. The number of single candidates has increased, as it becomes an easier and cheaper way to ensure victory, particularly for incumbents. This condition is strengthened by the culture of political parties that tend to provide support to candidates who possess a greater chance of winning in order to take control of the government and form political cartels. Although presently it has not been indicated that single candidates are a form of oligarchic rule and political dynasty, it may become an easy way to obtain political power.

This article examines the frames used by Pakistani news media while covering a political protest in 2019 on Twitter. The study deploys quantitative content analysis based on thematic framing, episodic framing, genre, types and subject matter of tweets. In recent years, there has been growing recognition of the use of Twitter in political and protest communication. Twitter is a platform with the potential to manage and coordinate protest activities and movements effectively. The current study is carried out to demonstrate the importance of one of the aspects of political protest communication. Tweets (N = 498) posted between 20 October and 20 November 2019 by three mainstream Pakistani media organizations (Dawn, The News, Express Tribune) were collected and analysed. Results show that straight news was used more in episodic frames by the media organizations on Twitter. Results of the study add to the increasing body of studies showing that media outlets have also embraced modern media to use frames while covering political issues.

How do minor states protect themselves against coercion from their major power allies? Asymmetric security cooperation is often reduced to tradeoffs between security and autonomy, but coercion is another factor that minor states fear while cooperating. Coercing partner states can take the form of major powers threatening or undertaking regime change, and minor states must weigh the benefits of cooperation against this risk. To this end, I suggest that minor states with anti-major power political oppositions cooperate more extensively with their major power partners than minor states with pro-major power oppositions. A pro-major power opposition provides opportunities for major powers to threaten or replace the incumbent regime; therefore, such minor states limit their cooperation out of fear of coercion. I employ original data on opposition characteristics to present evidence from security relations between the United States and 65 minor states during 1950–1991 to support the hypothesis.

The main goal of this article is to study, from a game theory perspective, the composition of the Spanish Parliament according to Article 68 of the Spanish Constitution, although the proposed model is applicable to the reduction of other representation chambers. It even allows for the sporadic design of the chamber in periods of crisis such as those we are currently experiencing. We use power indices to analyse feasible allocations of seats among the circumscriptions, modifying the size of the Parliament and considering different minimum initial numbers of seats per province. We propose two modifications of the composition following the cubic root rule of the de jure population. Finally, we compare the results of the general elections of December 2015 and June 2016 for the election of the members of the Congress of Deputies (Spanish Parliament) with the current system, which distributes a total number of 350 deputies among the provinces, with an initial minimum of two deputies (system 350/2), with another distribution system that distributed 360 deputies with an initial minimum of one deputy per province (system 360/1).

Over the past decades, biomedical researchers have made great progress in finding the treatment for many diseases which have been considered in the past as incurable. The struggle for longevity and positive health has been addressed by medical science. People who can afford it are assured by the promise of genetic engineering. But while there has been considerable development in the treatment of diseases, the number of mortalities in poor countries remains high, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa and East Asia. Around 8 million people die each year worldwide due to poverty-related health issues. Despite the advancement in the treatment of diseases, poor people in most of the developing countries worldwide are dying each year. This article will argue that human poverty and the existence of infectious diseases are inseparable social phenomena that affect the fate of the poor in developing countries. Following Amartya Sen, this article will argue that access to advanced health care services should be affordable to all, and should form part of individual freedoms that the national policies of a country must secure.

This research aims to establish an analytical framework for the policymaking process of Thai political parties from the 2001 general election to the present. Having reviewed theories on political parties and empirical research on finding the relation between the political and economic contexts, the political parties, and their organizations, the article finds that the policymaking process of political parties consists of: 1) centralization, 2) emphasis on solving everyday life’s economy, 3) being consistent with state policy and plan, and 4) similarities with the policies of political parties with success in elections. According to analysis of political parties’ policy structures and interviews with academicians and the informants from political parties, the article finds that the executive committee of political parties plays an enormous role in the policymaking process and concentrates on solving the problems of everyday life’s economy for low-income people. Moreover, political parties are likely to make policies in accordance with the state plan and the Thai-Rak-Thai Party’s policies. The implication is that the policymaking process of Thai political parties is vertically structured and rarely open to the rank-and-file to participate in. The participatory policymaking process becomes key to improving the quality of Thai democracy in the long run.

This study discusses the relationship between the time pressure faced by policymakers when an international military-security crisis breaks out and the consequences of the crisis. If a policy is decided too quickly, decision-makers do not have the ability to consider enough alternatives and information, which lowers the chances of averting a crisis. Moreover, if too much time is taken in deliberating, an international crisis may heat up and the chance to potentially come up with an optimal policy at the right time may be missed. The article takes a mixed methods approach using quantitative data and three case studies. The International Crisis Behavior (ICB, version 13) dataset was used to identify the time spent in making policy decisions to respond to an international crisis and the consequences of the crisis, for the period 1918–2013. Also, three actual international crises were analyzed: Russia's annexation of Crimea and Donbas, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the Korean War. The quantitative results and the case analyses indicate that a third alternative, a medium time span, allows for careful deliberation and sufficient information gathering to occur, and decision-makers may thereby avoid an international crisis.

This article discusses how the Right to Information Act in India, Nigeria and Indonesia can have an influence on ensuring transparency and accountability in the government system. The acts pertaining to the right to information in these three countries were implemented after long proceedings and deep struggles. The article looks at the legislation on the right to information in these three countries, the factors that motivated each of them to adopt the legislation, the implementation of the Right to Information Act, the challenges faced during the passage of the Act, the scope of coverage of the provisions of the Acts of all three countries, exceptions to the information disclosed to the public and problems faced during implementation from the government's side and the user's side. The article concludes with a summary of the arguments and key policy recommendations.