This edited volume offers a critical discussion of the trade-offs between transparency and secrecy in the actual political practice of democratic states in Europe. As such, it answers to a growing need to systematically analyse the problem of secrecy in governance in this political and geographical context.

Introduction: Transparency and Secrecy in European Democracies Part I: The Drive to Transparency 1. The Janus Face of Transparency: Balancing Openness and Secrecy in Democratic Decision-making 2. Freedom of Information in Europe: Creation, Context and Conflict Part II: Transparency and Secrecy: Day-to-Day Trade-offs 3. The Ambiguity of Leaks: Transparency and Secrecy in the EU 4. European Secrecy and Post-9/11 Security Practice 5. What the Eye Cannot See: Justifying Limits to Freedom of Information in the Diplomatic Context 6. Self-reinforcing Secrecy: Cultures of Secrecy within Intelligence Agencies 7. Paradoxical secrecy in British Freedom of Information Law Part III: Oversight and Accountability 8. Secrecy and the Preservation of the Democratic State: The Concept of Raison d'état in the German Bundestag 9. State Secrecy in the Age of Terror: The Italian Case in a Comparative Perspective 10. Political Whistleblowing in Europe: Official Secrets, Freedom of Expression and the Rule of Law