A blockchain-based administrative governance model

“Trust is the foundation for the legitimacy of public institutions and a functioning democratic system. It is crucial for maintaining political participation and social cohesion.” (OECD)

Public administration trust is fundamental to both economic growth and societal well-being. In the past years, a lack of confidence in governments has been weakening the credibility of public institutions, fostering political polarisation and favoring populist groups. The year 2020 has posed new difficulties to trust in public authorities, as well as civil rights and democratic institutions in general. Perhaps a not-so-surprising fact is that, in a recent study, governments were rated as being less ethical and competent than corporations, the media, and non-governmental organisations.

Given the context of global digital transformation actions, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, states struggle to adapt to the emerging, but disruptive technology developments in the economy and society. In an increasingly “connected” world, administrations strengthen priorities to fit for the future.

With the trust in government decreasing, blockchain technology offers the solution of a “build-in trust” ecosystem between and among unknown people, allowing them to perform business and share information without the need for a middleman while also preserving data integrity and giving a comprehensive audit record.

(…)

Having in mind the transformation feature of the new governance, the existing architecture of the public administration, and the trust relationships established between the public sector actors, I am considering a simplified approach of a new blockchain-based administrative governance model, founded on three pillars: data governance, decentralised governance, and participatory governance.

The proposed blockchain-based administrative governance model is designed to improve the quality of public administration by addressing existing key challenges: trust, transparency, and inter-institutional communication.

Based on functionalities such as distributed ledger, smart contracts, data trust, and traceability, blockchain technology provides a new model of data governance, enhancing access and ownership of data, and enabling distributed control.

The full text of the article is available here.