In age of innovation, politics remains stuck in the past

By all accounts, we are living through one of the greatest periods of innovation in human history. We are also living through a period in which politics in many countries feels stuck in a time warp.

Artificial intelligence is reshaping work and creativity, hopefully for the better. Diseases that once killed millions can now be prevented, treated or managed. Gigantic rockets built by private companies land upright on floating platforms. 3D printers manufacture everything from machine parts to human tissue. Renewable energy is becoming cheaper and more efficient.

While the future looks tantalizing from laboratories, research centers and engineering workshops, in Western parliaments and party headquarters, the debates often seem like a rehash of old arguments, old left-right ideologies and old habits of thinking. The contrast has become difficult to ignore after the recent socialist victories in New York, Washington, Los Angeles and Colorado.

Across the US, the UK, Europe and Australia, public trust in mainstream political institutions is weakening. Election campaigns increasingly produce fragmentation instead of consensus. Political parties struggle to build broad coalitions of moderates. Compromise, once considered a virtue in democratic politics, is now often viewed as betrayal. Polarization has become the norm rather than the exception.

This is not because the challenges facing today’s Western societies can be easily overcome. In fact, aging and declining populations, mass migration, housing shortages, rising public debt, energy insecurity and geopolitical rivalry are cross-border in nature and require long-term thinking. Democratic political systems designed for a very different era, however, tend to reward short-term calculations and immediate electoral advantage.

Scientists can spend decades pursuing a difficult problem whose benefits may only emerge years later. Pharmaceutical companies invest billions of dollars in research programs that may fail repeatedly before producing a breakthrough medicine. Engineers designing aircraft, satellites or computer chips work within systems that reward experimentation, collaboration and evidence.

Politics in most countries operates according to the opposite incentives and logic. Election cycles are short. Social media rewards outrage more than sober contemplation. A politician who proposes painful but necessary reforms may lose office before the benefits become visible. A populist who promises easy, impractical answers to complex problems can prosper immediately.

The result is a widening gap between humanity’s technical and political capabilities.

Ironically, this is happening at a time when knowledge of economics, psychology, public health and human behavior is expanding. Governments have access to a range of data and analytical tools that previous generations of policymakers could scarcely imagine. Yet important political and geopolitical debates remain relatively unsophisticated, dominated by slogans that divide societies into warring tribes.

This creates frustration among voters, particularly younger generations, who have grown up surrounded by rapid technological change. They watch foreign industries reinvent themselves every few years and wonder why their governments seem unwilling or unable to reform tax systems, modernize infrastructure or simplify regulations.

Gulf countries know the value of setting long-term goals and providing the political support necessary to achieve them.

Arnab Neil Sengupta

Admittedly, politics is a lot harder than engineering and electoral democracies from America to Australia must balance competing interests, values and identities in ways that scientific laboratories do not. However, imperfect political systems, even that of Iran, for example, can improve by learning from the cultures that contribute to scientific and technological successes.

The first lesson worth learning is humility. Science advances because hypotheses are tested against evidence and discarded when they fail. Politics too often rewards certainty even when certainty is not justified by the evidence in hand. Ideally, governments should be more willing to experiment with policies on a small scale, measure results honestly and carry out course corrections when necessary.

The second lesson is long-term thinking. Many successful companies and research institutions operate with timelines measured in decades rather than the four or five years of most election cycles. Democracies need stronger institutions dedicated to future planning, particularly in areas such as infrastructure, demographics, education and energy.

The third lesson is the importance of competence. An effective government increasingly requires expertise in technology, economics, cybersecurity and data science. Politics cannot become similar to an engineering workshop or a management consultancy, but it cannot afford to ignore expertise either.

Finally, democratic societies need to rediscover the importance of civic trust. Scientific progress depends on collaboration across disciplines, institutions and countries. Politics works best when opponents view each other as rivals rather than enemies and compromise is regarded as a sign of wisdom instead of weakness or cowardice.

Interestingly, some of the most inspiring examples of long-term political thinking in recent years have emerged from outside the traditional Western democracies. Several countries in the Gulf have embraced strategic planning with the patience that many Western governments would find difficult to adopt politically.

The economic diversification programs underway in Saudi Arabia, the investment in advanced technologies and infrastructure in UAE, and broader regional efforts to prepare for a post-hydrocarbon future all reflect an eagerness to think decades ahead. As evident from the US-Iran war and its economic fallout, Gulf countries face challenges of their own, but they know the value of setting long-term goals and providing the political support necessary to achieve them.

This is not to say all hope is lost for traditional democracies. Political systems from France to the US have shown an ability through the centuries to reform themselves. Many institutions that appear permanent eventually evolve under pressure from changing realities. The political systems of the 21st century need not be constantly guided by the assumptions of the 19th.

Humanity is entering an era that may very well be defined by AI, biotechnology, robotics and space exploration. These technologies raise pressing questions about employment, privacy, ethics and international stability. If political institutions fail to keep pace, technological progress may deepen social divisions rather than reduce them.

The good news is that the tech laboratories of the world already have one foot in the future. What politics must do is be prepared and willing to catch up with them.

• Arnab Neil Sengupta is a senior editor at Arab News. X: @arnabnsg