The technological advancement observed nowadays prompts us to rethink the basic paradigms of governance and mechanisms of collective action management, posing questions about the constraints of the state, the changing effectiveness of hierarchical, poliarchic and market-based models of governance, ways of involving interest groups in public actions, separation of powers, decentralisation and methods of organisational and social control.
The End of Hierarchical Governance?
Increasing technological opportunities combined with management innovations are also giving rise to new horizontal structures and networks. In many organisations they replace not only the hierarchy [using, among other things, the practices of “lean government” or the principles of Turquoise organisation], but also the traditionally understood organisation with clearly separated managerial and street-level functions.
This has a great contribution to the emergence of new areas of potential state influence and to some extent to the reconstruction of the mechanisms for managing collective action.
Paradoxically, such contribution may consist in strengthening the capacity for hierarchical coordination of public action thanks to the possibility of rapid communication and aggregation of information (the concept of Digital Era Governance).
From the point of view of the mechanisms of collective action management, the most important deliverables of the 4.0 revolution include the following:
- Vertical networks of smart, self-learning systems that collect and process huge volumes of data in real time, thus significantly empowering the economic operators owning those systems – the trend towards an increased role of hierarchy as a basic principle of governance.
- The possibility to make comprehensive decisions on collective action management faster thanks to real-time results of the analysis, combined with the immediate transmission of such decisions through new ICT tools removing barriers in the flow of information – the efficient networking of actors through universal access to the Internet, mobile technologies or RFID.
- The need for redefinition of the state’s relations with other actors (including the largest international corporations – e.g. those belonging to the GAFA – Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon), due to the growing disparities in the use of the latest ICT technologies between the public and private sector, which currently raises concerns about limiting the state’s capacity to act as a key actor responsible for the proper management of collective matters at the national level.
- Increased demand for new methods of social and economic analysis and technology in order to implement them to support the mechanisms of collective action management at the transnational, national and regional level.
- Ensuring security (protection of personal data, counteracting cyber-terrorism, etc.) and stability of ICT systems used for the purpose of the mechanisms of collective action management.
