Political entrepreneurship is seeding the world with innovative, non-partisan ideas, says Michael Mascioni
We were contacted by futurist Michael Mascioni about a year ago, who interviewed us for his forthcoming book on the power of political entrepreneurship, spanning the most grass-roots initiatives to full government commitments.
A delight to report that Reinventing Government through Political Entrepreneurship and Exponential Innovation is now available on Amazon Kindle - and Micheal has written us an exclusive essay on the book’s main points. There’s an exciting global vista below - the Alternative Global is there - and we encourage you to explore the book.
Michael Mascioni: Fruitful nonpartisan political innovations are emerging from alternative sources in different corners of the world
One of the most unfortunate aspects of the current political environment worldwide is that very productive and farsighted public policy programs, initiatives, and innovations are obscured by a cacophonous and toxic political scene.
It’s unsurprising so many citizens around the world are disenchanted with politics. Major party choices often seem unpalatable or underwhelming. Indeed, the growing number of independent voters reflect that dissatisfaction. Viable alternatives are often crowded out or are essentially invisible to most citizens.
Politics seems often to be reduced to zero sum games and political theatre, with much of the media fanning the flames of controversy. Some of the harshest critics of disinformation not infrequently turn out themselves to be propagators of disinformation and practitioners of censorship. Supposed “conspiracy theories” are increasingly inverted, later revealed as “accepted” truth.
However, fruitful nonpartisan political innovations are emerging from alternative sources in different corners of the world. Those sources include political entrepreneurs, next-generation political networking organizations, a new breed of nonpartisan centrist policy organizations and think tanks, and innovation parties.
Some centrist think tanks and public policy organizations, such as No Labels in the US, have succeeded in achieving a higher visibility through high profile initiatives relating to major issues, and harnessing greater citizen input into public policy.
Political entrepreneurship has started to become a significant driver of government transformation, especially as governments face increasing resource challenges. It’s aimed at changing the dynamics of government operations, especially in terms of government collaboration with outside actors.
Political entrepreneurs from different countries and parties open up new opportunities for public policy innovation and government efficiency by creating new parties, tools, platforms, and alliances.
In essence, political entrepreneurs typically forge a new ecosystem for government. For example:
French President Emmanuel Macron created a new party called En Marche that transcended traditional ideologies. They utilized a digital infrastructure tool called the NationBuilder Networdk to improve the efficiency of its candidates’ campaigns.
Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, opened up his state for testing for self-driving cars on a broad scale, by lifting a series of regulations and helping create the Institute of Automated Mobility. The IAM was supervised by the Arizona Commerce Authority, and involved the partnership of many diverse actors, including the Arizona Department of Transportation, the Arizona Department of Public Safety, Arizona State University, the University of Arizona, Northern Arizona University, and key corporations, including Intel. [Though there have been accountability and corporate collusion issues – see this Guardian report, Ed]
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez has shown elements of political entrepreneurship through his commitment to establish the city as a center of digital finance, and is himself paid in bitcoin (see how Miami – and their Mayor is reacting to the recent fall in bitcoin value, from Washington Post – ed]. Political entrepreneurs all share a willingness to take risk, though typically in a different way from private sector entrepreneurs.
They have also emerged through alternative platforms, such as blogs, meetups, and virtual nations. For example, the 5 Star Movement in Italy [Wikipedia] was founded by the late Gianroberto Casaleggio, a tech entrepreneur, and Beppe Grillo, a comedian, galvanized followers originally through Grillo’s meetup groups and his blog. After reading Grillo’s blog and joining his meetup groups, many followers eventually decided to join meetings of those groups in person.
Political entrepreneurship is also evident in other “innovation parties” that have become incubators of political and public policy innovation. For example:
The Alternative in Denmark essentially created political “laboratories,” which allowed the party to formulate policies in collaboration with citizens through broad crowdsourcing efforts. The party took a more holistic view of public policy, focusing on three main issues- 1) the climate crisis, 2) the empathy crisis, and 3) a system governance crisis.” It was designed to afford a “political platform that would spur the creation of many intriguing offshoots, including startups and social movements.” As such, the party envisioned its role as “a fourth arena hybrid organization between the public, private, and NGO/volunteer sectors.” Some of its other groundbreaking initiatives included conducting “open meetings with its team through live broadcasts on Facebook that other parties and the public could attend;” and establishing a foresight department to “assess ways the party could address issues 5-10 years in the future.”
The NEOS party in Austria also took an innovative approach to politics employing new tools and strategies. From the very beginning, it made extensive use of crowdsourcing, and co-created policies with citizens, in effect creating an open political process. It also started using crowdfunding over 12 years ago, which was highly effective in attracting small contributions. Another unique aspect about the party was its establishment of the NEOS Lab.
More expansive, rapid, and holistic experimentation has also been a hallmark of next-generation government and public policy innovation. Instead of relying on a small number of unwieldy massive pilot programs and tests, an increasing number of governments and public policy organizations regularly initiate a series of holistic experimental projects, helping to instill a culture of experimentation in those organizations.
This approach increases the odds of success, and helps organizations move on more easily from failing experiments. Government and public policy experimentation increasingly factor in a wider range of elements, including social innovation, human factors design, sustainability, and wellness.
In this regard, Indy Johar, Executive Director of Dark Matter Labs, expects a major transition away from an industrial model of government towards a “hybrid innovation model,” which will involve “massive horizontal and vertical collaboration,” and place greater emphasis on “societal innovation and policy execution.”
Some of the more successful and wide ranging experimental design programs conducted by government organizations and labs have included those of Experimental Finland, Denmark’s MindLab [and how it ended – ed], and the (Boston) Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics.
Better collaboration between government and its citizens has often been a major goal of many democracies. In recent years, crowdsourcing has emerged as a key tool for more effective and meaningful government-citizen collaboration.
Citizen town halls, citizen assemblies, and other crowdsourcing initiatives are allowing government and public policy organizations to gain greater citizen input on particular public policies, and, in certain cases, better shape those policies.
Crowdsourcing is now being used more extensively in government. It’s no longer simply being used to gather data: now it’s employed in some cases to generate ideas to aid government organizations in formulating new programs and initiatives. For example:
the City of Leiden in the Netherlands used a “participation platform” in 2020 with citizens to crowdsource ideas for the redevelopment of the city’s Roomburger Park area.
In a large scale initiative, the Energy Market Authority in Singapore conducted the Singapore Grand Energy Challenge in 2020 to generate ideas for solutions that could improve energy efficiency in the country by 50% from 2020 to 2030.
Gamification has also proved to be a potent tool in advancing public policy, especially in reaching younger citizens raised on video games, and motivating citizens to help support government initiatives by offering rewards ranging from symbolic to financial rewards.
Expanded use of gamification in government and international agencies is on the rise, with an increasing range of government agencies leveraging games to address issues and enhance the efficacy of programs in such areas as public health, workforce development, and space exploration. For example:
The Vax A Million lottery program in Ohio was mounted to induce greater COVID vaccinations in the state in 2020 by offering citizens an opportunity to enter a drawing for a grand prize of $1 million.
On a different front, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade contracted a game developer to create the KangaZoo environmental/wildlife game in 2020 to promote tourism in the country and aid the “bushfire recovery” effort.
In the future, government organizations and their partners may use games, including educational games, on a temporary basis to elicit insights into and test new public policy initiatives in amusement parks, museums, and other leisure facilities.
Nonpartisan political networking organizations, such as The Alternative UK [now Alternative Global] and DEMOCRACY GARAGE [part of We Do Democracy, English site] have also provided a much needed alternative source of information about politics, including political innovation, and a prime opportunity for networking with other citizens across the political spectrum.
Ultimately, The Alternative UK is designed to “help facilitate some form of global self-governance.” The DEMOCRACY GARAGE also is part of the growing trend towards “democracy entrepreneurship.” The organization is aimed at serving as a catalyst for “new democratic formats” through its “innovation house for democracy development and citizen-driven urban development.”
Although virtual nations haven’t yet made many inroads generally, they promise to open up new avenues for government innovation and experimentation over the next 5-10 years. E-residency programs in countries like Estonia have already generated clear benefits.
Virtual nations will likely be increasingly utilized to test prospective government programs and initiatives with less constraints and greater cost-effectiveness. In some cases, virtual nations may very well become satellites of major traditional nations or they may join together in collectives of virtual nations [see the recent discussions around The Network State by Balaji Srinivasan – ed].
Overall, opportunities for government innovation have increased significantly, as government and public policy in general become increasingly fluid and liquid, spanning more diverse platforms, especially in a digital world. Through these means, more multifaceted and collaborative government innovation and experimentation will grow markedly, leading to more responsive, effective, and farsighted government and public policy.
Michael Mascioni is a writer, futurist, and conference producer focusing on digital media, innovation, and clean energy. He is also co-author of The Out-of-Home Immersive Entertainment Frontier, and wrote a chapter on the future of ambient interactivity in public places for FutureScapes- the Future of Business. In addition, he wrote a chapter on the future of immersive media in amusement parks for 50:50 - Scenarios for the Next 50 Years.