The Future of Government: Lessons Learned from around the World

Watch an interview with Carina Larsfälten, Director, Head of International Organizations at the World Economic Forum about the report which you can also browse below.

The World Economic Forum today launched The Future of Government: Lessons Learned from around the World in the run-up to the World Economic Forum on Europe and Central Asia. The report which highlights best governance practices will be presented at a high-level dinner with seven heads of state and government, key ministers and representatives from international institutions, business and academia. Participants will address the need for governments to redesign their structures and processes to capitalize on a new set of actors and tools so as to be efficient and effective in today’s complex, interlinked and fast-changing environment.

The discussions will focus on the key issue areas of the report: government transformations, open government in a world of social media, governments and multistakeholder networks, fighting corruption and enforcing accountability and sharing lessons learned on how the strategies, structures and practices of governments must change in the coming years, to be flatter, agile, streamlined and tech-enabled (FAST).

The report is authored by the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on the Future of Government which includes 15 innovative experts and leading practitioners from some of the most advanced governments and international organizations.

The report builds the effective sharing of best (and worst) governance practices so as to speed innovation globally. It provides a comprehensive analysis of how the strategies, structures and practices of governments must change in the coming years to be FAST. Several recommendations are highlighted for governments to be more responsive to rapidly changing conditions and citizens’ expectations, as well as to build capacity to operate effectively in complex, interdependent networks of organizations and systems across the public, private and non-profit sectors.

The authors furthermore challenge governments to integrate two new kinds of metrics to measure government performance designed to accelerate the required transformation of government. The first measures holistic government performance along the four axes defined earlier as FAST. The second set of measures focus on measuring the value of transformation to citizens so as to allow governments to measure and benchmark improvements in “public value” from the point of view of citizens.

The report also explores the powerful but, in some cases, controversial concepts of open government and open data, giving examples of how governments can use the power of the Internet, including social media, to transform governance, empower citizens and rebuild the social contract between political leaders and citizens. It also looks at how to find the proper balance between open government and risk management.