I believe that governance is a technology. Thus, while there may be no “perfect” governance system, humanity’s knowledge on it will improve greatly over time. That will improve the default governance models used (right now, representative democracy is a very common default with company shareholders, most developed countries, etc.) as well as humanity’s ability to customize governance models to particular situation. Since representative democracy is so commonplace, I think making default models better will produce most of the benefit, rather than the adapting to the context as you mention.
Regarding getting there, as indicated in Holden’s article, governance can be applied to many human systems, not just a government. Governments change, of course, but organizations change faster and emerge at a higher rate. Take public benefit corporations (PBCs) for example. Delaware (the most popular state for incorporation), passed PBC legislation in 2013 and we already have PBCs IPOing.
There are also very creative ways to influence governments with technology. For example, in Taiwan, while the governance model hasn’t changed, the government is deploying technologies like Polis to improve democracy, using it to effectively come up with policy proposals for potentially contentious issues that improve society and enjoy high consensus. I think that developing “add-ons” to entrenched governance models is a decent strategy, and it’s one of the routes that our Civic Abundance project is taking.
I think the problem is not so much to find the perfect governance system (which changes over time and with context) …
… but how to get there from here?
In business schools this is addressed through the research category ‘Management of Change’.
In politics, why it’s easier in France is a perennial topic.
I believe that governance is a technology. Thus, while there may be no “perfect” governance system, humanity’s knowledge on it will improve greatly over time. That will improve the default governance models used (right now, representative democracy is a very common default with company shareholders, most developed countries, etc.) as well as humanity’s ability to customize governance models to particular situation. Since representative democracy is so commonplace, I think making default models better will produce most of the benefit, rather than the adapting to the context as you mention.
Regarding getting there, as indicated in Holden’s article, governance can be applied to many human systems, not just a government. Governments change, of course, but organizations change faster and emerge at a higher rate. Take public benefit corporations (PBCs) for example. Delaware (the most popular state for incorporation), passed PBC legislation in 2013 and we already have PBCs IPOing.
There are also very creative ways to influence governments with technology. For example, in Taiwan, while the governance model hasn’t changed, the government is deploying technologies like Polis to improve democracy, using it to effectively come up with policy proposals for potentially contentious issues that improve society and enjoy high consensus. I think that developing “add-ons” to entrenched governance models is a decent strategy, and it’s one of the routes that our Civic Abundance project is taking.