Today’s governance crisis didn’t develop overnight. The pressures on our institutions today are compounded by flaws in our models that we’ve recognized but been unable to fully address for some decades.
Beyond direct polycrisis pressures, there are two major factors differentiating today’s situation. The first is the entrance of private sector and other stakeholders into governance processes. From evacuation operations in Afghanistan to climate initiatives, non–government stakeholders have been filling governance gaps in increasingly visible ways.
The second difference is the ballooning capabilities of emerging technologies. This dynamic creates new pressures on governance processes as institutions learn how to govern and use them. It also gives exponentially greater capability to non–state stakeholders looking to become more involved in governance.
This could make governance more inclusive and resilient, but who is included or excluded—and how, why, and from what—are questions we can’t yet answer. The answers matter.
Done poorly, we face an era of ‘chimera governance,” with an amalgamation of actors exercising governance power without effective coordination or matched vision—leading to inefficient and even contradictory governance.
Done right, we can usher in an era of transparency, accountability, and stakeholder access which could truly help the future arrive well.
To think about the future of hybrid governance, Diplomatic Courier asked its network of World in 2050 experts to reflect where we’re headed and what it means. At a time every global convening hosts main stage conversations involving this evolution of governance, discussing what we want out of hybrid governance and how to get there is timely indeed.
We are excited to share this digital anthology on the future of governance, full of insights from our network! We hope you find it useful.
You can access the entire anthology, free, here.
As ever, thank you for reading!
