Information overload makes it increasingly difficult to separate the noise from the signal of what is important to know in order to make a good decision. Because the unprecedented speed of change makes people unsure about the future and because globalization is challenging philosophical and religious certainty, people are unsure of the basis on which to make decisions. The sheer number and intricacy of choices seems to be growing beyond our abilities to analyze and make decisions. Democratization and interactive media are adding to the number of people involved in decisionmaking, increasing complexity and making closure less likely than ongoing modifications of decisions. As decisionmaking to address global challenges becomes too complex, it will appear chaotic until new systems emerge. In the meantime, we know the world is increasingly complex and that the most serious challenges are global in nature, yet we don't seem to know how to improve and deploy appropriate management techniques or Internet-based management tools and concepts fast enough to get on top of the situation.

Since no government or other institution acting alone can address any of the global challenges in this chapter, transinstitutional decisionmaking has to be developed. Common platforms are needed that connect governments, corporations, NGOs, universities, and international organizations in collaborative decisionmaking. "The most creative agents of change may well be partnerships-among governments, private businesses, non-profit organizations, scholars and concerned citizens such as you," says UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Self-selection and self-organization of volunteers around the world via Web sites is a new strategy to increase transparency of public issues and to participate in decision processes. New participatory processes and other emergent transinstitutional systems using the Internet could become informal decisionmaking systems that conventional powers ratify. Information pollution or "noise" in policy information could be reduced by software for knowledge visualization and mapping to help see a situation and various options at a glance.

The Internet is raising the pressure for all systems to be available worldwide 24 hours a day seven days a week. E-government systems are growing rapidly to help automate administrivia, make decisionmaking more transparent, and facilitate public participation, but they also create new vulnerabilities to manipulation by organized crime and to cyber-terrorism. UN organizations are the only trusted decisionmaking system for many people around the world. Yet these international organizations were designed for decisionmaking among governments, and have not synergistically evolved with private corporations, NGOs, and think tanks. There needs to be an emphasis on "partnership" between decision-makers and decisiontakers and on the use of participatory processes. Foresight can play a significant role in decisionmaking processes, not just by deciding based on potential consequences but by drawing attention to the potential possibilities that can play out when decisions are made.

 

Many people believe it is possible to shape the future rather than simply prepare for a linear extrapolation of the present or a product of chance or fate. Just as efficiency is a key criterion in decisionmaking for industrial economies, wisdom will be a criterion in decisionmaking for successful knowledge economies.

We have to find ways for policymakers of all kinds to take decisionmaking training programs that might include e-government, decision-support software, risk taking and avoidance, advanced concepts in decisionmaking, prioritization processes, applications of cognitive science to decisionmaking, foresight, ways to work with new participatory processes, and collaborative decisionmaking with different institutions.

 

Africa: The New Partnership for Africa's Development has begun operations to improve collaborative decisionmaking. The main problem in Africa is lack of good leadership and the ability to transfer power from one leader to the next. There is an African attitude toward power that the "winner-takes-all" of society's wealth and resources. Decisionmaking can be improved by developing civil society and NGO pressure for freedom of the press, accountability, and transparency of government; by adopting participatory decisionmaking practices and civil service reform; and by reversing the brain drain or connecting expatriates to the development processes back home through Internet systems.

 

Asia and Oceania: The drift of "ad-hocism" and "status-quoism" appears to be the regional systemic disease. Traditional hierarchical deci-sionmaking in Japan is beginning to be affected by NGOs. Regional dialogue and cooperation are needed to create a regional development plan. Special training for decisionmakers should be provided. Advanced information technology should be used for improved educational access, knowledge management, and decision support.

 

Europe: A list of firms with good decisionmaking should be organized. Europe is searching for its new identity, internally and in relation to the world as a whole. Improving decisionmaking is especially important now in the context of the enlargement of EU and NATO. Decisions can be improved through the use of scientific expertise, visionary leadership, decision tools like situation rooms, long-term perspectives, and the establishment of a global observatory. Advanced information technology may facilitate public participation in direct democracy. Transition economies need public discussion of new development concepts, and more education and training for their leaders.

 

Latin America: The region is increasingly demanding the modernization of state management and a new qualitative scale of state intervention. True leadership involves practice, education, and risk taking. It is a real pity that political leaders and candidates are not required to pass exams. Latin America has to improve political educational awareness and involvement of the people and to reduce corruption.

 

North America: The Internet is a medium for self-organizing global brains that will become the de facto decisionmakers. The region will evolve using "subsidiarity," with decisions made at the lowest level appropriate to the problem. North Americans need to move from cause-effect, single-issue problem analysis to integrated, holistic visions and problem solving, using futures research, systems thinking, and technology assessment. Belief in easy, magical solutions seems to be growing, as problems are becoming less and less amenable to simple definitions or solutions. More courses in future-oriented studies should be established that stress relationships to decisionmaking. The media's simplistic treatments trivialize complex issues. There is a remarkable lack of training among politicians. Decision-making responsibility is being diffused through a complex workforce. People are increasingly working on many short-term jobs with changing "strategic partnerships." Many people are involved in volunteer activities and a diverse set of educational activities, some of them way beyond traditional retirement ages.