The presence of more parties in a governing cabinet can encourage greater transparency

Secrecy is often assumed to be a guiding value of governments, with parties in office tending not to prefer opening up the fullness of their record to public scrutiny, with single-party governments particularly seen as likely to follow this secretive path. Gregory Michener argues that this impulse can be tempered by the presence of more parties in the Cabinet, which create incentives towards greater transparency.