* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Defence budgets are the primary tool that legislators, members of the public and civil society can use to hold governments and armed forces to account. Yet the ability to use that tool is rare, since most countries disclose too little defence and security spending information to their public, and even to their legislatures.
This is one of the findings of Transparency International’s Defence and Security Programme’s latest report, which ranks 93 countries according to their defence budget transparency and accountability. The scale of the challenge is clear: nearly 65% of countries studied scored moderate or below.
It is through the defence budget that citizens can understand how their taxes are being spent. They have the right to know where their money goes, and to hold their governments accountable for their decisions.
The banding of countries into high, moderate to high, moderate, moderate to low and low defence budget transparency resulted from data provided by the Open Budget Initiative Questionnaires, and the ranking was supplemented by further research. Countries were given different grades depending on: whether or not they published their budget proposal, enacted budget and audit reports; the percentage of secret items in their defence expenditure; the existence of adequate staff to audit the security sector; and the provision of detailed budget information to their respective parliaments.
According to these standards, only 13 countries score as having high transparency, 20 as moderate to high, 14 as moderate, 21 as moderate to low, and 25 as low.
Along with the ranking, the report puts forward a set of questions which can enhance understanding of defence budgets. The questions address key defence budget transparency indicators such as how defence budgets are planned, how they are executed, what oversight and monitoring mechanisms exist, and what level of access to budget information is granted to citizens. In this way, the questionnaire aims to help identify areas of strengths and weaknesses in defence budget management systems.
Does this really matter? The answer is yes, and more than you might expect. A transparent and accountable defence sector is not only in the best interest of the public, but also the best interest of governments, armed forces, and the international community.
National security is used too often as an excuse for protecting confidential information. This can result in the delivery of highly aggregated budgets and over-classification, both of which are potential veils for corruption. Yet countries can protect confidential information and be accountable at the same time. Security and accountability are not mutually exclusive. It’s a matter of having effective and robust systems of monitoring and control in place, and thorough legislative oversight.
Transparency and accountability are key to reducing corruption. Because corruption wastes resources and diminishes public trust, it is in the interest of any government to be effective and transparent when allocating, managing and overseeing resources for its defence and security sectors.
This is also true of the Armed Forces: the risk of corruption increases if they lack accountability in the way they spend their money. This makes them weaker institutions and reduces their effectiveness.
When countries are unaware of neighbouring countries’ defence spending, this heightens the levels of suspicion and uncertainty at a regional and international level. Transparency and disclosure of information can enhance regional or international cooperation, and build trust and stability between nations.
In the defence and security sectors, certain secrets have to be kept. Yet there must be processes to ensure that the government and defence establishments remain accountable to the citizens they serve, and whose money they spend. A defence budget which is open to the people, and to the legislature in limited cases where information must be kept secret, and which is properly developed, overseen, and audited, is a vital tool of accountability.
Maria Gili is the Communications Officer at the International Defence and Security Programme of Transparency International UK
