Open Government as a Cross-Cutting Strategy for Public Policy

In recent years, the concept of open government has become increasingly present in debates about public administration and democratic innovation. However, it is often misunderstood as a set of isolated policies focused mainly on transparency or access to public information.

This limited interpretation fails to capture its true potential.

Open government should not be understood as a sectoral reform or a specific public policy. Instead, it represents a cross-cutting governance model capable of transforming the way public institutions design, implement and evaluate public policies.

At its core, open government rests on three fundamental pillars: transparency, participation and collaboration.

Transparency allows citizens to access information about public decisions and government actions. Participation enables society to contribute ideas, knowledge and perspectives to public policy processes. Collaboration encourages governments to work alongside civil society, academia and the private sector to address complex public challenges.

When these principles are applied systematically, they strengthen democratic governance.

Public institutions become more accountable, citizens gain greater trust in government and policies are designed with a deeper understanding of social realities.

However, the greatest potential of open government lies in its ability to function as a transversal principle within government programs.

Instead of limiting open government initiatives to specialized offices or transparency portals, governments should integrate its principles across all sectors: education, health, infrastructure, climate policy and digital transformation.

This approach allows public policies to benefit from collective intelligence and strengthens the legitimacy of government decisions.

In practice, incorporating open government into government programs means creating mechanisms for dialogue with citizens, publishing relevant public data, enabling participatory decision-making and promoting collaborative problem-solving.

International initiatives such as the Open Government Partnership (OGP) have demonstrated that governments around the world are increasingly adopting these practices to improve institutional transparency and civic engagement.

Yet the real challenge is not merely adopting the language of open government but embedding its principles into the daily functioning of public institutions.

When governments embrace openness as a transversal strategy rather than a symbolic commitment, they can transform the relationship between the State and society.

Ultimately, open government is not simply about transparency—it is about building more legitimate, collaborative and responsive democracies.