The Government of the Future Series: How to Build an Adaptable Government (FON3-E04)

Overview

Delivery method

Online

Duration

1.5 hours

Audience

All public servants at all levels

Description

Adaptability is essential to good governance. For countries to thrive, governments must be able to foresee new challenges, invent policy options, build consensus about how to respond to an issue, and execute the needed reforms. But some critics have argued that authoritarian countries can adapt better than liberal democracies. 

This forward-looking event will examine how adaptability can be improved in complex democratic societies like Canada. Panellists will consider what kinds of institutions and practices can help countries to foresee major challenges and respond in a timely way.

Participants will learn about the concept of adaptability and how this critical capacity is enhanced or corroded by public institutions, practices and culture, how other countries have attempted to improve their ability to anticipate and respond to national challenges, and how practices within their own organization can contribute to adaptability in government. 

Learn more about The Government of the Future Series

Video: The Government of the Future Series: How to Build an Adaptable Government

Geoff Mulgan, Professor of Collective Intelligence, Public Policy and Social Innovation at University College London (UCL)

Yamini Mrinalika Aiyar, President and Chief Executive of the Centre for Policy Research – India

Jennifer Ditchburn, President & Chief Executive Officer, Institute for Research on Public Policy

Dr. Alasdair Roberts, Visiting scholar at the Canada School of Public Service and Professor of Public Policy, University of Massachusetts Amherst