How to create great public policy in the age of information (part 1)
In the past ten years, three billion people connected to the internet and in the next ten, that number will double. Technology is evolving faster than people can keep up with and it affects all aspects of our lives. In order to be ready for future innovation, we need to create public policy that can keep up with the pace of change. But it can’t just be business as usual. We need great public policy that both promotes prosperity and is flexible enough to adapt to future opportunities.
Public policy is a conversation between individuals, governments, and organizations. Discussions around what governments should or should not do and how far reaching government policy should be are not new. However these conversations now need to factor in technological shifts, not only because new concepts and discoveries demand new conversations, but because technology creates new opportunities and poses new challenges for society. Technology has the power to create new jobs and ideas but it can also cause unemployment and put pressure on some societal values. Technology has disrupted the social contract. In the old days it was simpler; the government would look after your basic security and in return you were encouraged to get a job and raise a family. While the basic elements of this social contract remain, the way it operates has fundamentally changed.
The fact that so much in our daily lives is affected by technology necessitates the pursuit of great public policy that can take advantage of today’s opportunities and tomorrow’s challenges. There is a demand for clear rules around what is acceptable behavior in the information age. Society needs clear definitions around how much protection can be expected, how much privacy will be respected, and how much freedom can be retained. We need to rethink social protection and education systems that provide the skills of tomorrow, as well as help those left behind to navigate and take advantage of future opportunities. To date, public policy has not kept up enough with advances in technology. We cannot turn back the clock on technology, and nor would we want to. Public policy that is inclusive and well-built is better than the responsive and regressive reactions that we are starting to see from these technological shifts.
The above issues are the basis for the following parts of this series and will be explored in more detail. There are no simple answers. Public policy is difficult at the best of times, but more so when the whole world is affected and involved in the conversation. Further, no single government today can create self-contained policy. This is because information flows globally and technology transcends national borders. I have personally witnessed this difficulty working as a diplomat at the United Nations, where I have seen governments respond to 21st Century technological changes with a 20th Century mindset. From attempting to take control of the internet to protecting their economy, countries are understandably reacting to seismic changes but those reactions can be outdated and are often uncoordinated. The world needs more thoughtful responses to technology to create public policy that ensures the right balance between promoting innovation and protecting against over-regulation.
The next part of this series will explore how disruption has affected the way societies operate. Understanding this allows policy makers to get a better idea of the complexity of the problem. While there are undoubtedly many ways to approach this, I’ll focus on five everyday activities — the way we shop, bank, socialize, learn and work.
Part three explores the roles of different actors in society, namely governments, the private sector and individuals. Understanding the different intentions of the actors allows for a more robust conversation about what public policy means and how to make decisions that benefit everyone.
Given the complexity of creating public policy, part four will provide the foundation for my set of principles on what is needed to create great public policy. The idea being that if we can at least agree on a set of principles, we can build on them to create social contracts that can embrace and be flexible to future change. My three principles are strengthening opportunities, encouraging diversity, and sustainable regulation. For those that have read my book “Ideas on the Essentials” these will sound familiar.
In the final part of the series I will respond to your comments and thoughts on this topic. Join the discussion so together we can begin to create great public policy.
