Secret Government: The Pathologies of Publicity

257 Pages·2021·1.688 MB·English

by  Brian Kogelmann

SECRET GOVERNMENT
Amongpoliticiansandpolicy-makersitisalmostuniversallyassumed
that more transparency in government is better. Until now, philo-
sophers have almost completely ignored the topic of transparency,
andwhenitisdiscussedthereseemstobeanassumption(sharedwith
politiciansand policy-makers) thatincreasedtransparency is a good
thing, which results in no serious attempt to justify it. In this book
BrianKogelmannshowsthatthestandardnarrativeisfalseandthat
many arguments in defense of transparency are weak. He offers a
comprehensivephilosophicalanalysisoftransparencyingovernment,
examining both abstract normative defenses of transparency, and
transparency’s role in the theory of institutional design. His book
shows that even when the arguments in favor of transparency are
compelling, the costs associated with it are just as forceful as the
original arguments themselves, and that strong arguments can be
madeindefenseofmoreopaqueinstitutions.
brian kogelmann is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the
University of Maryland, College Park His research focuses on the
intersection ofphilosophy, political science, and economics, and he
haspublishedarticlesinjournalsincludingtheJournalofPhilosophy,
American Political Science Review, and the American Journal of
PoliticalScience.

SECRET GOVERNMENT
The Pathologies of Publicity
BRIAN KOGELMANN
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doi:10.1017/9781108973847
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To my mother,
whotaughtmehowtolaughfromthebelly,drinkBudLight,
and always live with love and joy in my heart.
And to my father,
who taught me how to work hard, wake up before the sun,
and drive the train.

Contents
ListofTables pageviii
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
1. PublicityinHistory 11
2. DemocracyThrivesinDarkness 35
3. OpenversusClosedDeliberation 64
4. PublicityandtheRuleofLaw 95
5. GovernmentHouseMoralTheory 114
6. SeeingJusticeDone 140
7. MutualKnowledgeofJustice 167
8. PuttingthePhilosopherintheModel 188
Conclusion 212
References 216
Index 238
vii
Tables
3.1 Thecostsandbenefitsofsecretdeliberation page73
3.2 Thesuccessesandfailuresofretrospectiveaccountability 85
6.1 Thecomplexityofseeingjusticedone 165
8.1 Thecomplexityoffullpublicity 211
viii
Acknowledgments
Ihavebeenworkingonthisbook,inoneformoranother,forthepastfive
orsoyears.Unsurprisingly,thedebtsIhaveincurredinwritingitarelarge.
Ifirstpresentedaversionofthisbookatamanuscriptworkshopheldat
the University of Arizona in the spring of 2018. The commentators were
Jonathan Quong, Kevin Vallier, and Chad Van Schoelandt. The current
bookisunrecognizablefromtheperspectiveofthemanuscriptIpresented
that day. That, I think, is a testament to the tremendous feedback I
received from the commentators and audience. They convinced me that
the project I was then working on was not a fruitful one. Yet, they also
convincedmethattherewasanuggetofagoodideainthatmanuscript–
ontheconceptofpublicity–thatIshouldrunwith.RunwithitIdid,and
theresultisthisbook.
I presented material from this book on a few occasions. First, at the
“FutureofPublicReason”conferenceheldattheUniversityofArizonaon
May 23–24, 2019. At the conference, I thank Jacob Barrett, Elizabeth
Edenberg,SamuelFreeman,JerryGaus,AdamGjesdal, ChristieHartley,
Andrew Lister, Stephen Macedo, Alex Motchoulski, Blain Neufeld, Phil
Smolenski, Kevin Vallier, and Chad Van Schoelandt for their wonderful
feedback.IalsopresentedpartsofthisbooktothePhilosophyDepartment
at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on February 11, 2019.
IthankespeciallyGeoffSayre-McCordforexcellentfeedback.
Chapter1isonasubjectIhavenobusinesswritingabout(thehistoryof
politicalthought).IthankmytwowonderfulcolleaguesattheUniversity
ofMaryland,RachelSingpurwallaandJeremyReid,forprovidingdetailed
feedback on this chapter. The whole manuscript greatly benefited due to
detailed comments from Kevin Vallier and Andrew Lister. Indeed, their
comments were so impactful that I rewrote much of the book in light of
whattheyhadtosay.
I also thank my intellectual mentors. Dave Schmidtz is the reason I
attendedtheUniversityofArizonatogetaPhD.Iwasnotsoenthusiastic
ix