“… there is a growing feeling among economists, political scientists and even national governments that the nation-state is not necessarily the best scale on which to run our affairs. We must manage vital matters like food supply and climate on a global scale, yet national agendas repeatedly trump the global good. At a smaller scale, city and regional administrations often seem to serve people better than national governments.”
I live in Switzerland. Here there is a smooth transition from local to national governance. The research seems to support the idea that a fractal, hierarchical, system allows people close to the issues to make the best choices.
“…Switzerland’s 26 cantons, for example, which have different languages and religions, meet Bar-Yam’s spatial stability test – except one. A French-speaking enclave in German-speaking Berne experienced the only major unrest in recent Swiss history. It was resolved by making it a separate canton, Jura, which meets the criteria.”
“… in any hierarchy, the person at the top
has to be able to get their head around the whole system. When systems
are too complex for one human mind to grasp… they must
evolve from hierarchies into networks where no one person is in charge.”
Unwieldy central government, restrictive and bureaucratic, is old hat. Technology must deliver agile, Peer 2 Peer, network alternatives.