Global connections

As outlined in Part II, the first step to a new form of governance would be the creation of competing policy frameworks and microgovernance at a national level.

But with the emphasis on user feedback and on delivering what works in practice, there is no reason why a successful framework should necessarily remain confined to one country. While there may be cultural differences, not all people need necessarily feel constrained by these, and the competition to deliver successful outcomes could outweigh much resistance.

So with citizens everywhere both interested in knowing what works and able to share their feedback globally, the first steps on the journey to a new form of governance are likely to be prompted by pressure from the bottom rather than leadership from the top.

The first steps towards new forms of global governance might be to argue that a policy framework in place in one country should be made available in others.

At first this might be through the transposition of the framework from one national repository to another.

But if this happens on a large scale, there would be no reason why the pointless step of duplication could not be by-passed altogether, with the frameworks being made available internationally through a global repository. Initially this could be based on equivalence agreements between countries so that a framework accepted in one country can be recognised in another, as exists at present in areas such as financial regulation. Differing costs may be attached to the framework in different countries.

The significance of this is that the concept of microgovernance would become divorced from the state itself. The policies of one microgovernment arrangement – the policy framework – would be available across multiple states.

As Weinberger wrote in Everything is Miscellaneous, the tagging of content and the ability to share and discover information of mutual interest reveals "a global dialogue of people with different backgrounds and assumptions but a shared interest".

Mark Pack, associate director for digital at Mandate Communications, has also argued that "the ease with which people can express their views means the views of foreigners are more likely to seep in to the domestic politics of any country than in the past".

Again, this is not a new revelation. As Rick Levine, Christopher Locke, Doc Searls, and David Weinberger wrote in the Cluetrain Manifesto back in 1999: "A powerful global conversation has begun."

But this process can be taken beyond views and opinions. In general, political parties, in a move typical of any monopolistic market-sharing arrangement, refuse to become directly involved in the politics of another country. When business, trade and environmental campaigning is international, why should parties and policies remain as firmly nationally rooted as they are now?

Dominic Campbell of Enabled by Design wrote in Social by Social that citizens are already beginning to find ways of organising themselves by shared interests, regardless of the stance of governments or political parties.

"Change is being driven from the top down, with Gordon Brown recognising the need to involve and empower citizens as the means to deliver truly world-class public services. Central to this agenda are the government's values of choice, voice, transparency and openness.

"But for many the speed and scale of this change is not enough and outside of government change is taking a very different form. Change is emerging from the bottom up, with citizens coming together around shared needs and interests and self-organising to resolve the challenges they face together.

"Taking advantage of freely available and easy to use collaborative tools such as blogs, wikis and social networks, communities of interest (whether by geography or common cause) are coming together to take on what may have previously been seen as the role of the government in public service delivery, or otherwise acting to publicly hold the government to account on its service delivering.

"Whether in the form of peer-to-peer learning through the School of Everything, community recycling services such as Freecycle, or in local groups such as Haringey Online, new forms of public service institution are emerging on an almost daily basis, all built on free and easy-to-use web tools such as Ning, Drupal or Google groups.

"We're moving from e-gov to we-gov: new ways of creating user-led service design are emerging all the time, enabling public services to engage and involve clients in real and meaningful re-shaping of services. Enabled by the power of the web, public services are beginning to be rebuilt from the bottom up, formed around real rather than perceived need and with people speaking for themselves in their own words and through their own experiences and passions."

So there is undeniable grassroots pressure for change, and this pressure does not recognise any of the old constraints of politics or administrative organisation. Instead, the focus is on what works best for the individuals directly concerned.

While the first steps are being taken most often at a local level, there is no reason why groups cannot set out their experiences and share opinions on an international basis as more effective tools are built for achieving this. The policy framework model will make this easier than ever, and provide ways of integrating the lessons into governing arrangements.