EXPLORING RIGHT TO INFORMATION AND GOOD GOVERNANCE IN PAKISTAN: A SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

The study attempted to analyze the role of right to information in ensuring
good governance in Pakistan. The study objectives were to investigate the
experiences of public information officers and civil society actors regarding
the right to information contribution to good governance and to analyze
the challenges in the implementation of right to information law. For the
selection of sampling size, purposive sampling was used and data were
collected from 11 ministries public information officers and 3 civil society actors
through in depth interviews in Islamabad, Pakistan. Being qualitative study,
data were analyzed by using thematic analyses. Jurgen Habermas theory
of ‘Public Sphere” was used to throw light on main theme of the study. The
findings indicated that right to information is an effective tool in promoting
good governance along with all its features like, accountability, transparency,
mutual trust between the government and general public, common man
facilitation, rule of law and corruption elimination. Study concluded that
right to information would be an effective tool in promoting the good
governance only when hurdles that prevent it from its true implementation
were removed.