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This op-ed piece is part of a series written by Fellows of the Salzburg Global Seminar program “Public Policy New Voices Europe” 

This op-ed was written by Chougher Maria Doughramajin, Roquia Gonçalves Guerra Camara, Lauri Heikkinen, and Leila Laing. 

Our world is becoming increasingly fragmented, a reality reflected in our policy-making practices and institutions. Policy development and implementation cycles, which typically follow the pattern of election cycles, are a barrier to meaningful future-forward, strategic thinking on the most pressing issues facing humanity. 

While these issues are global and will require international cooperation, national and local policy-making institutions also play a critical role in the funding of and implementation of ambitious, progressive policies for global change.  

The often ineffective and non-inclusive nature of the current policy making process is an affliction deepened by persistence of short-term focus. Policies are often engineered to appeal to a more radical faction of the governing party’s voter base at the expense of cooperation and broad consensus.  

This hinders the ability to cultivate a political culture of long-term-ism, which the philosopher William MacAskill describes as "the view that we should be doing much more to protect future generations.” Creating robust mechanisms to genuinely hold policymakers to account over the effectiveness of their policies is necessary if the policies developed are to have the desired outcome, delivering change in the face of global issues.  

Mainstream policy-making practices should be disrupted in line with four core pillars: 

1. The adoption of human-centric policy-making, which places the beneficiaries of policies at the heart of decisions. Understanding the social, economic, historical, and sociological contexts of the communities affected by policies will enable the development of policies that are fit for purpose.  

2. Ensuring pluralism in the policy development and design phase will make all stakeholders feel they have a stake in the policy, leaving it less susceptible to being abandoned during changes in political administration. Public institutions, grassroots groups, citizens, civil society, elected representatives, independent researchers, and the private sector should all play a significant role in shaping policy.  

3. Reframing thought to introduce the concept of living policy by treating policy solutions with long timelines as adaptable. This will ensure that policies remain fit for purpose while being able to respond to developments that occur over the policy’s implementation period. 

4. Honoring the evaluation phase of the policy cycle and creating mechanisms for accountability is critical to ensuring that policies remain fit for purpose.  

Taking a long-term approach to creating policy for the world’s largest issues does not preclude a focus on delivery in the short and medium term. Practical, measurable deliverables should sit alongside broader strategic objectives.  

The negotiation process which drove the creation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) was successful in involving a range of stakeholders to the benefit of creating robust objectives. The Future We Want outcome document noted that sustainable development can only be “achieved with a broad alliance of people, governments, civil society and the private sector, all working together to secure the future we want for present and future generations.” 

However, the successes of the negotiation process have not yet been reflected in the delivery of the SGDs. This year’s Sustainable Development Report, which provides an annual assessment of progress of all United Nations Member States, has found that “for the second year in a row, the world is no longer making progress on the SDGs”.  

The importance of delivering on the policies to which power-holders on all levels have committed must not be understated. However, pragmatism and practicality must play a role in the machinery of policy-making if we are to deliver on longer-term, strategic global goals.  

The hubristic insistence that the alteration policy is conceding a mistake must be dismantled. This is an endeavor critical to encouraging change and reflection, ensuring that policies remain fit for purpose in an ever-changing world. 

Learn more by watching our pitch for the policy challenge: ‘Disrupting Policy Making”