Open Institutions and Their “Relevant Publics”: A Democratic Alternative to Neoliberal Openness

Over the last ten years, “open” innovations – the sharing of information and communications resources without access restrictions or cost – have emerged within international development. But do these innovations empower poor and marginalized populations? This book examines whether, for whom, and under what circumstances the free, networked, public sharing of information and communication resources contribute (or not) toward a process of positive social transformation. The contributors offer cross-cutting theoretical frameworks and empirical analyses that cover a broad range of applications, emphasizing the underlying aspects of open innovations that are shared across contexts and domains. The chapter examines the role of ICTs in development. It defines open development as consisting of a movement toward open institutions, looks at the actors involved in this movement, examines how public interest is determined, and proposes that the democratic opening of institutions is the most appropriate way to address the problem of institutional capture that ails our democratic political systems.