good governance
erosion of “the great levelling”
As politicians look for more immediate political benefit and remain without incentive for making necessary long-term decisions, access to the fundamental right of Good Governance is a problem in a growing number of countries. This is of particular urgency with the complexity and scope of some of the problems we face today; global warming, ecosystem damage, artificial intelligence, migration.
Weak process has allowed undue policy influence to fall to the businesses that actually benefit from our largest problems and the long range planning required to turn them around is not getting the basic governance attention it requires. We need to recognize that the wide range of problems we face, largely come back to a relatively small set of weak points in democratic process. The introduction of just a few pages of text to our existing framework can have a profoundly positive effect on a long list of grand international issues.
We need to steel ourselves for the task of repairing the quality of governance and process, but the benefits will be enormous.
forward planning - entitlements, taxation, fiscal deficits, infrastructure, resource management, global warming, climate mitigation, immigration; the absence of transparency, measurement and incentives allow these issues to drag on
metrics and outcomes - measurement ensures we catch abuses early and derive value for spending
fair and efficient taxation and spending - the twin burdens of debt service and tax avoidance, leave the majority of citizens either bearing an unfair share of the cost of government or receiving less than they deserve in services.
economic management - a range of negative human tendencies will always drive the need for a government role in the economy.
new governance responsibilities - there is need to respond to the range of consequences from the massive increase in our maximum computing capability. In the past we were forced to wait for answers to our many needs, based on the rate of the intense manual labour required to advance science, technology and public policy. The reality has now flipped. Innovation and advancement of technology are now presenting immediate policy vacuums that carry significant social consequences.
This presents all governments with the need to remain closely engaged with the state of technology and the need to anticipate potentially damaging trends in development. This problem goes to the right to self determination and the need to curb the concentration of unmandated power. The people have the right to decide what changes will be made to society and how fast. They certainly have a right to be protected from dangerous outcomes.
the true cost of unmandated power
There are so many cases of abuse of power in the world, and where we’re not asking the right questions. The problem of destructive leadership or unmandated power can no longer be framed as appeasement vs. conflict or international intervention vs. internal sovereignty. We have centuries of outcomes that show the true choice is action to remove offenders vs. a massive human and economic toll.
The following topics begin to outline the enormous weight poor governance places on society. Today there are people all around the world, working hard to build their lives, with their eye on a goal. They are the true engine of the economy. The following list starts to define the scope and cost of the unfair burdens placed on them by poor governance, greed and pernicious self-interest. In many cases we do not have access to the best leaders in business or government, we just have the ones that benefit from the broken system.
international enforcement
triggers for ICC referral - if we decide to take collective action to restrain abuse or unmandated power, what are the offences that rise to that standard? Can their definition be made clear enough as to be enforceable? Can they be made clear enough for timely prosecution? Do we have a reasonable expectation of gathering evidence sufficient to convict? What design of adjudication is immune from a vito by the offending country?
timely prosecution - there is no moral equation that can balance ongoing persecution, violence or death, against any delay in prosecution. Cases brought under international enforcement, by definition, require the capacity and determination to move to an efficient resolution.
effective enforcement - what are the processes that can execute effective enforcement across national borders?
challenges to self determination
Those that abuse or corrupt the self determination of a society have committed a high crime, and removal and banning of offenders is essential. The most damaging behaviours run with the person, the removal or prosecution of a leader is a monumental task and should not be open to the possibility of a repeat offence. Being convicted of this aspect of prosecution, must end your public career.
Remarkably this frightening and complex policy issue can be drastically reduced with a few pages of text to constrain the long term problems of poor governance and a few more pages to engage governments in effective cooperation. This may sound like the GCHRD is verging on policy, but not when the entire scenario is viewed through the lens of human rights.
damaging public trust - we protect the economy from fraud, false advertising, theft, unfair dealing, and unsafe products. We must provide the same range of protections and penalties to civics and democracy. We cannot be reduced to the level of the snake oil salesman.
artificial intelligence - the concentrated power of mass destruction in private hands, not to mention who’s regulating false claims, resource consumption, labour market impacts, military uses,
too big to fail/too big to exist - the recent economic consequences of the pandemic and the rise of hacking, demonstrate the risk that industrial concentration poses to the economy. Weak government regulation has allowed single points of failure to arise in various sectors of the economy. These have the added hidden cost of stifling innovation due to reduced technological and cultural diversity. The economy will be stronger and more innovative with a better balance of players and approaches.
incomplete taxation - we are living in a time where the weakness of taxation is again allowing threatening levels of wealth concentration. The American Guilded Age demonstrated that a similar lapse allowed bold business people to attempt the capture of entire markets of energy, food, water, transportation and raw materials. Taxation is not fair unless it applies to everyone capable of paying. A fit global taxation system needs to make it mathematically impossible for business and personal wealth to accumulate to levels that can challenge a democratic government.
private technologies moving too fast for society
• genetic research - eugenics has returned
• reviving extinct species - potential ecosystem disaster
• environmental engineering - who decides if the sun shines or if the rain falls?
• deep sea mining - who's ocean is it?
• fishing - we now have the ability to remove all the fish
• pollution - profit driving threats to life from every direction
migration - stable democracies are not fulfilling their obligations to protect the rights of citizens in challenged democracies and so should not be surprised when a migration problem arises, as people seek refuge in better governed jurisdictions.
The cycle begins with the absence of effective planning and cooperation on the long term issues of reducing international poverty or poor governance, then short term opportunistic politicians foment and disinform the public about the negative local consequences. Make a problem, and then blame it on the people who show up at the door with the problem in hand.