Governance
What makes a state actually work, when should it step in to regulate, and how does it hold together under strain? Confucius, Hannah Arendt, Elinor Ostrom and Ibn Khaldun answer from four very different traditions, separated by centuries. They rarely meet in the middle. Read on to see where they divide.
- Debates
- 46
- Council voices
- 41
- Last debated
- 21 August 2026
The council in action
What would they do about governance?
Each thinker’s concrete moves, drawn straight from their debates.
HA
Hannah Arendt
Explore Arendt →- Protect collective self-governance practices continuously during wartime; do not defer them until after the guns stop.During wartime, should a nation's political discourse give greater prominence to protecting cultural and democratic institutions alongside military defense, rather than letting military priorities dominate the conversation?
- Prosecute the dismissal of federal prosecutors as institutional hollowing, not routine personnel action.Do Trump's policies and approach to government pose a threat to American democratic institutions?
- Hold individual bureaucrats personally accountable for decisions made under their authority.How can the Dutch bureaucracy better respond to the social problems it currently ignores?
HS
Helmut Schmidt
Explore Schmidt →- Create regulatory frameworks for AI systems before capabilities mature beyond democratic control.Should AI be regulated?
- Build integrated information systems linking federal, state, and European institutional levels.How can Western democracies reduce bureaucracy?
- Use EU monetary and trade instruments to make European regulatory approval as unavoidable as EMS membership once was.How can the EU benefit from the US-China AI race?
EO
Elinor Ostrom
Explore Ostrom →- Replace external oversight bodies lacking user participation with locally accountable, user-governed data institutions.With an increasing grip of technology and state surveillance, how can a “Brave New World” scenario be avoided?
- Require graduated sanctions and community monitoring mechanisms in any institutional framework claiming long-term durability.Governments struggle to think beyond the next election, how to change that?
- Build shared data infrastructure and common compute pools using the same design principles that sustained durable common-pool institutions in fisheries and alpine meadows.How can Europe develop AI capabilities while reducing its dependence on the US?
IK
Ibn Khaldun
Explore Khaldun →- Treat the populist movement's cohesion as thinner than it appears; probe its internal fractures before conceding institutional collapse.Do Trump's policies and approach to government pose a threat to American democratic institutions?
- Invest in shared rural institutions that rebuild asabiyya before scarcity dissolves collective will.What happens if there are fewer and fewer farmers and war breaks out, causing food to become scarce?
- Track NAR's internal coalition fragmentation as the primary indicator of whether its asabiyya has peaked against institutional resistance.Is NAR movement a serious threat to democracy
LK
Lee Kuan Yew
Explore Yew →- Build EU certification infrastructure as the globally recognised safety standard, unlocking access to every safety-conscious market worldwide.How can the EU benefit from the US-China AI race?
- Concentrate resources on the certifier role rather than competing directly with US and Chinese AI development budgets.How can the EU benefit from the US-China AI race?
- Insulate compulsory long-term savings mechanisms, modelled on the CPF, from electoral revision by statute.Can democracy still solve long-term problems?
Browse by topic
Recurring dilemmas
Institutions & the state
26 debatesCan the machinery of the state still deliver, and how should it be reformed when it cannot?
- What happens if there are fewer and fewer farmers and war breaks out, causing food to become scarce?
- Is NAR movement a serious threat to democracy
- Can democracy still solve long-term problems?
- Governments struggle to think beyond the next election, how to change that?
- How can the US break the cycle of mutual radicalization in politics?
- Is democracy possible without a strong cultural and artistic sphere?
Regulation & its limits
11 debatesWhen should the state step in to regulate, and when does it overreach?
- How can the EU benefit from the US-China AI race?
- How can Europe develop AI capabilities while reducing its dependence on the US?
- Can capitalism survive an AI-driven economy?
- Should AI be regulated?
- How can the EU reduce its dependency on US and Chinese AI?
- How can AI companies be regulated without hindering innovation?
Governing in hard times
4 debatesHow should institutions hold up under war, crisis and deep division?
- Is NAR movement a serious threat to democracy
- During wartime, should a nation's political discourse give greater prominence to protecting cultural and democratic institutions alongside military defense, rather than letting military priorities dominate the conversation?
- What actions must be taken today to ensure the future of next generations?
- How do we strengthen democracy?
Related themes