February 28th 2025.
Public institutions all over the world are facing a crisis. People's trust in them is declining and there are those in power, like US President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, who view them as enemies that need to be taken down. With funding cuts and political divisions, multilateral organizations seem to be weaker than ever before. The attacks by Trump and Musk may not be well thought out and could potentially backfire, but they serve as a reminder that public institutions do not have to remain the same as they were decades ago. It is becoming increasingly clear that simply defending existing institutions is not enough. We need effective institutions to tackle the biggest challenges facing humanity today, from managing the transition to clean energy to addressing mental health issues. However, the current ministries, agencies, and public services are not equipped to handle these new demands. So, what should be done?
Governments have always relied on institutions to carry out their work, whether it's enforcing laws, educating children, or providing security. In the past, they have created new institutions to address emerging issues, such as climate change or organized crime. In the face of funding cuts and attacks, it is important for reformers to focus on creating institutions that truly serve the public interest, utilizing new tools and technologies to increase efficiency, and restoring public trust. However, designing institutions today is very different from before. Global businesses like Alphabet, ByteDance, Amazon, and Alibaba have introduced innovative business models and tapped into unprecedented economies of scale. For example, who would have thought that companies like Uber or Grab could provide taxi services without owning any taxis? Civil society has also developed new models, such as Wikipedia and Ushahidi, and there are now thousands of B-corps that prioritize social and environmental values. Even within the public sector, there have been remarkable innovations, like India's Aadhaar program that has provided biometric IDs to over a billion people.
In the past decade, leaders like Narendra Modi in India and China have made efforts to create more efficient and responsive institutions. However, in most parts of the world, public institutions have remained largely unchanged. Many are still structured like pyramids, with little transparency and accountability. When new institutions are created, they are often designed by elderly politicians or civil servants and tend to be rigid and hierarchical. This is evident in the way we are currently handling artificial intelligence (AI). Although it has been widely used in both public and private sectors for the past 20 years, we are only now starting to create institutions to govern it properly. This includes regulating its use and maximizing its potential for public services.
One of the reasons for this delay is the clever tactics used by the industry to discourage government intervention, framing AI as something that should be accepted without question. However, it is the duty of public institutions to act in the interest of the public, not private interests. As Nobel laureate economist Daron Acemoglu has shown, it is the quality of institutions that determines a country's success.
While we can look to successful institutions like Singapore's Central Provident Fund and Temasek, Brazil's Ministry of Social Development, and the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency for inspiration, we must also consider what is needed for our current challenges. How can we create institutions that are agile, flexible, and trustworthy? What is the best design for utilizing AI, data, and collective intelligence? Can we learn from initiatives like Icarus, which uses satellite technology to track animal populations, to address pressing issues? These are important questions being explored by global bodies like the United Nations Development Programme. In fact, the upcoming Istanbul Innovation Days conference will feature innovators who are pioneering new methods to improve institutional functioning.
These innovators are not only looking to traditional bureaucratic structures but also drawing inspiration from biology, thinking in terms of mycelia rather than pyramids. They are designing lighter mechanisms that can respond quickly during times of crisis, as well as slower-moving ones for long-term projects. This is evident in the creation of a Future Generations Commissioner in Wales and at the European Commission. There are also efforts to create new institutions to combat misinformation and election interference, mobilize capital for energy transitions in cities, empower indigenous communities, and support young people in a changing job market.
As UN Secretary-General António Guterres aptly stated, institutions must reflect the world as it is in order to effectively address problems. Instead of being part of the problem, they must be part of the solution. Institutions are like buildings - we shape them, but they also shape us. While we may currently be experiencing a time of dismantling and disorder, history has shown that this can also lead to rebuilding and reinvention. When that time comes, we must be ready with better options. As Brazilian sociologist Roberto Mangabeira Unger puts it, we must not be trapped by a dictatorship of no alternatives. Let us use this restlessness to fuel our imagination and create institutions that truly serve the public interest.
[This article has been trending online recently and has been generated with AI. Your feed is customized.]
[Generative AI is experimental.]
