On Monday, March 3rd we hosted a virtual seminar featuring Greg Power OBE, Founder & Board Chair of Global Partners Governance and author of Inside the Political Mind: The Human Side of Politics and How It Shapes Development.
In this talk, Greg Power discusses his book Inside the Political Mind and his extensive experience working alongside and within political institutions from more than 60 countries. He criticizes international aid for political institutions that focus on infrastructure rather than people. Politicians, he emphasizes, are people whose behavior is shaped by incentives, pressures, and norms. Power uses the analogy of traffic and driving in different global cities to illustrate how informal norms develop that are deemed logical, but not rational. That is, they address immediate problems but potentially undermine long-term solutions. He then outlines four principles for effective political reform: Focusing on people over process, combining personal interests with higher political principles, leveraging reciprocal exchange, and thinking big while acting small.
Power also broaches the challenges of the present political context, explaining how populist movements tend to emerge when people’s economic situations have stagnated, thereby rendering disruptive change to appear logical even though it’s not rational. He explains that successful reforms must take loss aversion into account, as politicians are unwilling to risk their power, status, and authority. Pulling from behavioral economics and change management theory, Power argues that understanding politics through a human lens is critical. In other words, one must consider what motivates individuals, what matters to them, and what they are managing. He concludes that building trust and finding commonality are essential for moving beyond zero-sum thinking in our increasingly polarized world.
We offer training programs and host events featuring researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and academics who are working to solve complex problems. Visit our events page to view all previous BSC events.