INFORMATIONAL PUBLIC SPHERE: the role of archives in the building of citizenship

Abstract

This article deals with archives considered in the range of informational public sphere, highlighting the importance of access to information in the construction of citizenship. It presents a reflection on the social function of archives in information management, and their role as mediators of public information, an action that guarantees transparency of the actions of the State, towards the consolidation of democracy. Its theoretical background is Jürgen Habermas´s Theory of Communicative Action. It concludes that archival information is essential to grant access to public information and to the widening of citizenship.