News Archive

New book title: Open Government in a Theoretical and Practical Context

(5 April 2006)

Edited by Richard A. Chapman and Michael Hunt. Contributors include leading academic and practitioner authorities on Open Government.

Topics covered include:

• The Hutton report into the death of Dr. David Kelly
• The value of freedom of information in democratic societies
• The role of ‘special advisers’ in British central government

This is an essential book for courses on public policy and governance, and international law. “The Freedom of Information Act brings specific benefits to a wide range of people in the access it provides to information, and has the potential to bring about far-reaching change in the practice of government. These papers raise fascinating questions about why it was enacted, whether it will achieve its potential, and whether the more unwilling elements in politics and the bureaucracies have a significant capacity to resist the process of change. It makes worthwhile reading.”
Rt. Hon. Alan Beith, MP

Open Government in a Theoretical and Practical Context is published by Ashgate: ISBN 0 7546 4642 4

Author information
Professor Richard Chapman is an Honorary Research Fellow at Durham Business School and Emeritus Professor of Politics at Durham University. His previous academic appointments include Carleton University, Leicester University, Liverpool University and Birmingham University. Richard was appointed to Durham University as Reader in Politics (1971-85) and Professor of Politics (1986-96). Previously he was a Civil Servant (1953-61) and served in the Royal Air Force (1956-58). Formerly Chairman of the City of Durham Standards Committee he has recently been elected as councillors on Brancepeth Parish Council

Michael Hunt is Senior lecturer in Public Administration at Sheffield Hallam University. He has considerable consultancy experience of working in partnership with public sector organisations. With a long-standing interest in the changing shape of the public sector and the growth of public management, his editorship of the prestigious journal Teaching Public Administration is testimony to his reputation in the field. His publications range from detailed administrative matters such as price-setting in Local Authorities to broad philosophical questions regarding ethics in the public sector.