As the world faces complex future challenges, multi-party communities are themselves expanding and fragmenting. New approaches to broader decision-making gain traction.
Context
It is increasingly apparent that the big complex decisions for tomorrow are global, or at least multi-regional in nature. Climate change and pandemics are issues that are front of mind for many, but others of note include data ownership, food supply and the impact of AI. These are inherently cross-sector and multinational so, as well as requiring input from a diverse sector stakeholder set, they also demand wider geographic representation. But the current engagement models seem over-burdened and may not be able to accommodate the views of an increasing number of stakeholders. Some nations are fragmenting while others may become detached from the existing processes. At a time when global problems are crying out for international action the clear challenge is how to continue to ensure broader, collaborative, complex decision-making between a growing number of different parties around the world all with individual, sometimes diverging, agendas.
In the West and much of Asia, most people have grown up with globalisation. This has been broadly based on the idea that we all share some core experiences, values and interests and the best way to foster them is to ease the movement of ideas, goods, money and people across the planet. Huge benefits have been gained, cross-border trade, international travel, multi-culturalism, the development of multinational businesses have all contributed to a global rise in the standard of living for many. But globalisation has also opened the door to enormous problems – such as increasing inequality, climate change and, of course, the faster spread of infectious diseases. Such is their extent, many of these problems can only be addressed effectively through global action. But as countries fragment and some regional / sectorial decision-making communities turn their focus inward, maintaining an effective environment for multi-party agreement will become more difficult. A clear challenge for the next decade is how to achieve broader collaboration at a time of increased fragmentation.
