Page 66 - The Fourth Industrial Revolution

3.3 National and Global

The disruptive changes brought by the fourth industrial revolution are
redefining how public institutions and organizations operate. In particular,
they compel governments – at the regional, national and local levels - to
adapt by reinventing themselves and by finding new ways of collaboration

with their citizens and the private sector. They also affect how countries and
governments relate to each other.

In this section, I explore the role that governments must assume to master the
fourth industrial revolution, while recognizing the enduring forces that are
changing the traditional perceptions of politicians and their role in society.

With growing citizen empowerment and greater fragmentation and
polarization of populations, this could result in political systems that make
governing more difficult and governments less effective. This is particularly
important as it occurs at a time when governments should be essential
partners in shaping the transition to new scientific, technological, economic

and societal frameworks.

3.3.1 Governments

When assessing the impact of the fourth industrial revolution on
governments, the use of digital technologies to govern better is top-of-mind.
More intense and innovative use of web technologies can help public
administrations modernize their structures and functions to improve overall
performance, from strengthening processes of e-governance to fostering

greater transparency, accountability and engagement between the
government and its citizens. Governments must also adapt to the fact that
power is also shifting from state to non-state actors, and from established

institutions to loose networks. New technologies and the social groupings
and interactions they foster allow virtually anyone to exercise influence in a
way that would have been inconceivable just a few years ago.

Governments are among the most impacted by this increasingly transient and
evanescent nature of power. As Moisés Naím puts it, “in the 21st century,
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power is easier to get, harder to use, and easier to lose.” There is little

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