limited government access

English translation: lack of governmental transparency

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

English term or phrase:	limited government access
Selected answer:	lack of governmental transparency
Entered by:	Roddy Stegemann

11:44 Jul 26, 2006

English language (monolingual) [Non-PRO]
Social Sciences - Government / Politics / Sprachreform (Language Reform)

English term or phrase: limited government access

In effect, one cannot expect the excess demand created by government imposed constraints to disappear overnight. Business and industry have grown accustom to their free ride, and the general public has resigned itself to finding ways to rationalize what it is unable to change due to *limited government access*.

I am looking for wording that expresses the idea that the government puposefully stifles discussion on the matter, that the public is largely confused and highly opiniated, because it is poorly informed, and the people have little power, in general, to effectuate change that the government itself does not endorse.

I have already one several expressions through my mind, but this is the best i could come up with. Any suggestions?

By the way, some of you might find the following URL of interest, but it is from a land different from the one in which I reside:

http://users.rcn.com/crawj/Crawford_Official_English_testimo...

Roddy Stegemann KudoZ activity Questions: 666 (4 open) (6 without valid answers) (3 closed without grading) Answers: 1221 United States
Local time: 11:15

the government's lack of transparency

Explanation:
Transparency is a buzz word these days and it seems to encompass a wide horizon of meanings. Lack of it is very serious and makes the government very suspect

Selected response from:

abridge
Sweden
Local time: 20:15

Grading comment

Acknowledgement:

This was pretty easy to judge, because few of you apparently know the government that I am seeking to describe. For one thing, it is anything but quiet. I enjoyed the word aloof, but found it lacking in mechanical precision. Limited access to government information is, of course, half the problem, but only half, and the word transparency is trendy and captures attention. The government I have in mind also puts on a tremendous show of being open when, in fact, it is often quite the opposite. Thus, the word secretive is also not appropriate. Susan is write about the inappropriateness of censorship in this example; a more appropriate term would have been "lack of disclosure". I really did not know what to make of the term closed policy. It made me think of 17th century Japan and Korea. Government "iron-curtainism" is far too drastic for this government, but would certainly be understood by many. Reachibility? Access cuts better, does it not?

This is what I finally went with:

In effect, one cannot expect the excess demand created by government imposed constraints to disappear overnight. Business, industry, and academia have grown accustomed to the free ride, and the general public has resigned itself to finding ways to rationalize what it is unable to change due to limited government access and only partial governmental transparency.

Thanks everyone! Your show of support was what I needed most.

My very best from the land of no mountains surrounded by sea on many sides.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED

3 +3

the government's lack of transparency

abridge

limited government reachability

zax

the government's hush hush approach

Fan Gao

an aloof governement

jarry (X)

limited access to (government) information

Jocelyne S

the government's secretive attitude

Caryl Swift

4 -1

government censorship

Mwananchi

government's closed policies

humbird

government iron-curtainism

ErichEko ⟹⭐

Answers

10 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +3

the government's lack of transparency

Explanation:
Transparency is a buzz word these days and it seems to encompass a wide horizon of meanings. Lack of it is very serious and makes the government very suspect

abridge
Sweden
Local time: 20:15
Works in field
Native speaker of:

English

Grading comment

21 mins confidence:

the government's hush hush approach

Explanation:
If you're looking for an expression for "stifling discussion" then hushing things up is a good one.

I'm not sure if it would fit this context though but it sprung to my mind when I read it so I thought I would share it with you.

Fan Gao
Australia
Local time: 04:15
Works in field
Native speaker of: Chinese
PRO pts in category: 3

28 mins confidence:

an aloof governement

Explanation:
Another suggestion

[PDF] UntitledFile Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
perceived an aloof government that was uninter-. ested in resolving the three-month old chaos that. was obviously affecting public health. A poll in ...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 29 mins (2006-07-26 12:14:50 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Sorry: government, not governement :-)

Reference: http://www.hemisphereinitiatives.org/earthquakes.pdf

jarry (X)
South Africa
Local time: 20:15
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 4

35 mins confidence:

limited access to (government) information

Explanation:
If the population is not informed due to lack of information from the government, then why not
"due to limited access to government information"
or even
"due to the government's refusal to provide open access to information"
or just
"due to the government's reticence to provide the public with (sufficient) information"

Have a nice day,
Jocelyne

Jocelyne S
France
Local time: 20:15
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English

1 hr confidence:

the government's secretive attitude

Explanation:
Here's another suggestion. It may not suit your context, because it states rather baldly something which the source sentence approaches obliquely.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2006-07-26 13:24:53 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Or, of course, given that you wrote:

" . . . the government puposefully stifles discussion . . ."

you coud also say, for example:

'the government's muffled approach' http://tinyurl.com/z72h9

'the government's muffled response' http://tinyurl.com/e5gb7

'The government's muffled reaction' http://tinyurl.com/zy4uw

Caryl Swift
Poland
Local time: 20:15
Works in field
Native speaker of: English

4 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): -1

government censorship

Explanation:
The government is not allowing the free flow of information.

Mwananchi
Kenya
Local time: 21:15
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

English,

Swahili

5 hrs confidence:

limited government reachability

Explanation:
zax

zax
Local time: 14:15
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

Arabic,

English

9 hrs confidence:

government's closed policies

Explanation:
Government that is closed to public access as opposed to open. See this link:
http://www.mass.gov/legis/bills/senate/st02/st02612.htm

humbird
Native speaker of:

Japanese,

English

15 hrs confidence:

government iron-curtainism

Explanation:
Well, I guess this is a chance to be creative, right? :)

So far you can google only ONE iron curtainism. Rather weird as we had lived under cold war atmosphere for a half century.

ErichEko ⟹⭐
Indonesia
Local time: 01:15
Works in field
Native speaker of:

Indonesian
PRO pts in category: 4

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