Leopold Ringel develops the thesis that organizations constantly attempt to hide their inner workings from external scrutiny in order to maintain an idealized self-presentation—even when they profess to be creating more transparency. This leads to a tension between the institutionalized ideals of transparency and organizational practice, which is examined in a qualitative case study of the parliamentary group of the Pirate Party in North Rhine-Westphalia. Despite the strong grounding of the Pirate Party in the discourse on transparency, the group has gradually transitioned to forming an opaque organizational backstage after its election to the state parliament, contrary to its own ideals.