Page 67 - The Fourth Industrial Revolution

doubt that governing is tougher today than in the past. With a few exceptions,

policymakers are finding it harder to effect change. They are constrained by
rival power centres including the transnational, provincial, local and even
the individual. Micro-powers are now capable of constraining macro-
powers such as national governments.

The digital age undermined many of the barriers that used to protect public
authority, rendering governments much less efficient or effective as the

governed, or the public, became better informed and increasingly
demanding in their expectations. The WikiLeaks saga – in which a tiny non-
state entity confronted a mammoth state – illustrates the asymmetry of the

new power paradigm and the erosion of trust that often comes with it.

It would take a book dedicated to the subject alone to explore all the

multifaceted impacts of the fourth industrial revolution on governments, but
the key point is this: Technology will increasingly enable citizens, providing
a new way to voice their opinions, coordinate their efforts and possibly
circumvent government supervision. I say “possibly”, because the opposite
might just as well be true, with new surveillance technologies giving rise to

all-too-powerful public authorities.

Parallel structures will be able to broadcast ideologies, recruit followers
and coordinate actions against – or in spite of – official governmental
systems. Governments, in their current form, will be forced to change as
their central role of conducting policy increasingly diminishes due to the

growing levels of competition and the redistribution and decentralization of
power that new technologies make possible. Increasingly, governments will
be seen as public-service centres that are evaluated on their abilities to
deliver the expanded service in the most efficient and individualized ways.

Ultimately, it is the ability of governments to adapt that will determine their
survival. If they embrace a world of exponentially disruptive change, and if

they subject their structures to the levels of transparency and efficiency that
can help them maintain their competitive edge, they will endure. In doing so,
however, they will be completely transformed into much leaner and more

efficient power cells, all within an environment of new and competing
power structures.

As in previous industrial revolutions, regulation will play a decisive role in
the adaptation and diffusion of new technologies. However, governments

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