The governments of today are not able to transform and adapt to changes in the world around them, as demanded by their constituents. The nature of work, value of public goods, and the constant bombardment of crises are making the old bureaucratic structures obsolete.Agile Government is an emerging theme, that of government-wide reinvention for adaptiveness and responsiveness. It places the accountability, delivery, capture, design and creation of public value at the heart of the government. The concept of agile government is confused with terms like Agile Manifesto, agile governance, agility among others, and because of this, needs some unpacking.This book is a deep dive into this topic. It offers insights from the theoretical development of the topic of agile government, some lessons from government practices around the world, and ongoing academic and policy research. The project is spearheaded by the Mohammed Bin Rashid School of Government, which is the first teaching and research institution in the Arab world focusing on public policy and governance.

Governments of today need to be future-oriented. The seismic disruptions in demographics, economic and political upheavals, increasing fragmentation between the haves and have-nots, leap-frog societal transformations, climate change, and technological innovations will be critical drivers impacting the context of how governments operate and function. Public sector organizations must be able to deliver services that are affordable, efficient and effective and can compete with the private sector. Governments must not only work towards safeguarding their people and resources, but take a more extensive look at the increasingly inter-connected world. They must work with the private sector and embrace the citizen who is demanding to be included in the decision-making process. This volume presents a series of case studies of countries, including the UAE, Germany, Estonia, Iceland, Finland, Chile and China, and their experiments with policy under five broad themes: government foresight, future orientation, regulatory reforms & strategy, the happiness agenda and the sharing economy. Each case, written by a leading expert in the field, presents the challenges and opportunities of the future and will provide key insights that will support policy makers, strategists and decision makers in mapping out their plans for tomorrow.

Public policy is a set of principles used to uphold the well-being of citizens. These principles are often unwritten and form the basis of social laws. This book focuses on 'unlocking the black box of UAE Public Policy'. It presents several cases that give an insight into the UAE leadership, the areas the government has prioritized and how these fold into UAE Vision 2021. Viewpoints on provoking topics by thought leaders like Her Excellency Sheikha Lubna bint Khalid Al Qasimi, UAE Cabinet Member and UAE Minister of State for Tolerance; Fadi Ghandour, Co-Founder and Vice Chairman of Aramex and Managing Partner, Wamda Capital and Christopher M. Schroeder, Venture Investor and Author. Under the leadership of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Prime Minister and Vice President of UAE and Ruler of Dubai, Dubai has grown from a tiny village by a creek to a globally recognized megapolis. Through these cases, you will get a glimpse of strategic decisions taken by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed and how these decisions taken by the UAE Government have led to the creation of one of the most connected cities and competitive countries in the world. The book is divided into six sections: Government leadership, national competitive advantage, social and sustainable development, national human capital development, entrepreneurship and government systems. The UAE 2021 Vision aims for UAE to be one of the top 10 countries in the world. The future focus for UAE is to increase competitiveness in foreign markets especially looking at trade, entrepreneurship and focusing on seven high-value adding innovation sectors like renewable energy, transport, education, health, technology, water, and space. One of the challenges this resource-rich country has had is moving away from oil dependency. By 2016, oil formed less than 30% of the UAE GDP, and the plan is to have a 20% dependency by 2021. The book covers a variety of cases that address many of these issues. This book can be used to teach public policy and help international industry leaders and academics understand the context of UAE and the role it plays in the global arena. This project is a series by the Academy of International Business - MENA chapter, supported by the Mohammed Bin Rashid School of Government, Dubai. For more information on AIB- MENA, go to: http://www.uowdubai.ac.ae/aib