Transparency and openness of public administration constitute the cornerstone of the European administrative space concept. Provision of information to public and citizens’ participation in decision-making are considered as necessary administrative practices for the purpose of legitimising administrative decisions and building public trust in institutions.

Transparent and open governments thus continuously provide information to the public, make information available at the request of citizens and ensure channels for participation of the public in the decision-making processes.

In addition, public administrations nowadays face enormous pressure to present themselves and their decisions to the public using effective public relations. Communication with the public ranges from the provision of basic information to the implementation of strategically tailored information campaigns and the use of sophisticated forms of political public relations. Communication methods and channels which ensure transparency, openness and effective communication are supported by the fast developing digital technologies which open up new possibilities for communication with the public.

The panel chairs invite papers of theoretical or empirical relevance based on comparative or case study research that analyse following topics:

- transparency and open government,

- political communication, strategic government communication and public relations in government and public administration,

- digital technology (ICT) support for transparent and open government and public communication in government.

The papers written in cooperation between researchers and practitioners, as well as the research papers which focus on communication practices at different levels of government in Europe – local, regional, national or European - are particularly welcome.