The  Future  of  Government      Insights  from  Discussions  Building  on  an  Ini4al  Perspec4ve  by:    Cheryl  Chung  |  Futures  Division,  Ministry  of  Transport  |  Govt.  of  Singapore  

Context  The  ini4al  perspec4ve  on  the  Future  of  Government  kicked  off  the    Future  Agenda  2.0  global  discussions  taking  place  through  2015.    

This  summary  builds  on  the  ini4al  view  and  is  updated  as  we  progress.  

Ini4al  Perspec4ves  Q4  2014  

Global  Discussions  Q1/2  2015  

Insight  Synthesis  Q3  2015  

Sharing    Output  Q4  2015  

Mee2ng  Demand  With  Limited  Capacity  There  is  a  need  for  increased  government  capacity  to  deal  with  the  increased  demands  placed  on  the  state.  In  many  countries,  this  has  been  exacerbated  by  

an  underinvestment  in  public  sector  capacity  over  the  past  few  decades.    

Keeping  Pace  we  see  a  compression  of  4mescales  within  which  the  state  operates.    

The  key  ques4on  to  answer  is  can  governance  keep    pace  with  the  changes  in  the  rest  of  society?    

Outdated  Measures  of  Success  In  a  network,  the  state  is  but  one  of  many  stakeholders.  Without  economies    of  scale  through  centralisa4on,  common  market-­‐based  measures  of  state  performance,  like  efficiency  and  produc4vity,  also  become  less  useful.    

Changing  Role  of  Government  En44es  compete  with  the  state  for  influence  -­‐  environmental,  human  rights,  and  other  ac4vist  NGOs  –  and  operate  at  many  levels  of  government  around  

the  world.  This  new  dynamic  changes  the  role  of  the  state.    

City-­‐zens  The  current  governance  system  is  not  good  at  taking  into  account    

factors  such  as  the  preferences  of  the  non-­‐voter  (for  example,  city-­‐zens),    the  environment  and  future  genera4ons.  

Hard  Choices  In  a  society  where  there  is  a  widening  gulf  between  rich  and  poor,    

the  rich  may  live  increasingly  separate  lives  and    provide  for  their  own  “public  services”.  

Enabling  Scale  The  poten4al  for  greater  collabora4on  …  creates  a  specific  role  for  the    

state  in  the  network  to  iden4fy  successful  ideas  and  scale  them,    leveraging  its  resources  to  augment  the  delivery  of  public  services.  

Par2cipatory  Government  One  of  the  ways  that  the  state  can  legi4mize  itself  to  its  cons4tuents    might  be  to  facilitate  the  building  of  rela4onships  with  the  people    

and  other  sectors  to  co-­‐provide  solu4ons  to  problems.    

Closing  the  Inequality  Gap  One  of  the  challenges  facing  the  state  is  how  to  balance  equity    and  autonomy.  A  centralised  system  is  ocen  viewed  to  be    

more  equitable  at  the  expense  of  autonomy.    

A  New  Opera2ng  Environment  The  influence  of  non-­‐state  actors  has  expanded.  Jurisdic4on  has  grown  beyond  boundaries  and  technological  change  has  outpaced  society.  The  role  of  the  state  has  had  to  evolve  and  to  succeed  in  this  new  opera4ng  environment    

Public-­‐Private  City  Partnerships  To  collec4vely  address  major  urban  challenges,  as  shown  by  Medellin  in  Colombia,  governments  increasingly  openly  collaborate  with  business  to  improve  the  ins4tu4onal  fabric  of  ci4es  as  well  as  core  infrastructure.    

Societal  Stra2fica2on  Inequality  gaps  persist  between  /  within  countries.  This  leads  to  a    stra4fica4on  of  society  and  greater  poten4al  for  forced  disloca4on    among  the  disenfranchised  and,  in  some  cases,  violent  acts  of  revolt.  

Life-­‐long  Learning  Educa4on  is  a  high  priority  for  all  na4ons  to  remain  compe44ve  in  a  global  market  place:  It  is  increasingly  available  on  line.  Widespread  internet  access  

allows  governments  to  make  life-­‐long  learning  available  for  those  who  want  it.  

In  Control  of  Happiness  We  see  measures  of  self-­‐actualisa4on  developing  which  are  based    on  happiness  and  balance  in  life.  These  are  dictated  by  individuals    

and  not  limited  by  external  circumstances.  

The  Influence  /  Need  Gap  People  dependent  on  the  provisions  of  government  are  not  those  who  pay    or  influence  decisions  taken.  As  the  inequality  gap  grows,  those  making  

decisions  are  increasingly  out  of  touch  with  society’s  real  needs.  

Future  Agenda  84  Brook  Street  London  W1K  5EH  +44  203  0088  141  futureagenda.org  

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