"I put down this book more cheerful about the prospects for democratic government than I was when I picked it up. During these dark days, that is more than enough reason to read." —Financial Times
"A fantastic, incisive, and timely roadmap for the reinvention of government... It's a gem - a must read for aspiring Prime Ministers and public sector leaders." —David Halpern, author of Inside the Nudge Unit
"Professor Prabhu goes to the heart of some of the most difficult issues facing modern governments... The implications for our traditional institutions may be profound. Required reading for anyone concerned by the way that public life is changing." — Sir Richard Wilson, former Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service
For a century, the most divisive question in political thought has been about the size of the state. Should it expand and take an active role in all sorts of areas of life? Or is that just meddlesome and wasteful? Those questions might have made sense in the previous century. Now, with revolutions in technology and organisational structure, and a world transformed by Covid-19, a revolution is also coming in the essential business of government - whether we like it or not.
Join organisations expert Jaideep Prabhu on a tour of what's possible in government. Discover amazing initiatives in unexpected places, from India's programme to give a digital identity to a billion citizens, to a Dutch programme that lets nurses operate almost entirely without management. Or perhaps China's ominous Social Credit system is a more accurate vision what the future has in store for us. Whether you are on the political left or right, it matters whether your government does what it does fairly and well. And the game is changing...