Mexican Public University's Role in Promoting and Encouraging a Culture of Transparency and Accountability

Abstract

In this article, we study the role that the Mexican Public University may play in promoting and encouraging a culture of transparency and accountability. This role is premised upon a new paradigm regarding how power should be exercised and controlled. We hold that the latter –the mechanisms for power control- are a necessary, immediate and natural consequence of allowing certain people to hold power positions on our behalf. We also hold that transparency and accountability should not depend exclusively on the State apparatus. These tasks should be jointly carried out by the State and its citizens in a collaborative enterprise. In this line, we claim that the Public University is the most adequate place in which this new conception of power may arise and flourish via the generation of the appropriate incentives for transparency and accountability. In our view, these activities should be seen as a) a University-value; b) an ordinary way of doing things within the University; and c) as a practice of the University towards making Government accountable and transparent.