ACTIVE CITIZENSHIP IN THE ERA OF TRANSPARENCY: POPULAR PARTICIPATION AND THE RIGHT OF ACCESS TO INFORMATION

Abstract

Access to information has always been a strategic instrument of power, often used as a tool for social control by the State and its agents. However, with the establishment of fundamental human rights, access to information has acquired a new status, becoming a guarantee intrinsically related to the exercise of citizenship. In this sense, the present study aimed to discuss the relationship between the right of access to information and the effective exercise of citizenship. To this end, the study was classified as bibliographic, through research in books, articles, and publications on the subject, using digital support as a research source. The findings showed that in addition to representing one of the necessary aspects for the implementation of the principle of publicity in Public Administration, the right to information is also a corollary of the democratic principle, favoring the exercise of citizenship through tools that allow citizens to monitor governments and their actions, lobby for public policies, question unjustified spending and exercise control over administrative morality. In other words, access to information represents one of the prerequisites for the full exercise of citizenship, since effective popular participation in matters of public interest depends on a minimum understanding of the actions of governments and their consequences for the community. Furthermore, the lack of broad and unrestricted circulation of ideas and information makes it impossible for citizens to formulate well-founded opinions on issues such as government action, the performance of elected representatives, the application of public resources, public policies, and other matters of collective interest, the limitation of which directly compromises the full exercise of citizenship and, as a consequence, weakens the pillars of democracy.