The history and future of nation-building? Building capacity for public results

Abstract

The goal of nation-building is to build the collective capacity to achieve public results and to pursue a shared vision of the future. This article, which is based on a theoretical vantage point and the author’s experience as a senior public official, explores the theme of collective capacity-building from the point of view of government. It describes how achieving collective results requires institutional and organizational capacities but, building on these foundations, governments must also develop greater capacity to anticipate, innovate and adapt in the face of increasingly complex public issues and unpredictable circumstances. Points for practitioners Building institutional capacity has been a focus of governments for many decades and, indeed, centuries. Building organizational capacity has been the centrepiece of reforms since the 1980s. But public organizations are not yet aligned with the complex problems they are expected to address. Addressing complexity and uncertainty will likely require practitioners to work with (i) a broader definition of public results, (ii) an expanded view of the role of government and of the range of possible relationships between government and citizens, and (iii) a more dynamic approach to public administration.