If you’ve ever wondered why government at all levels has lagged so far behind in the digital age, Jennifer Pahlka has an answer—and a plan to do better. In her book Recoding America: Why Government Is Failing in the Digital Age and How We Can Do Better, Pahlka provides a bold call to reexamine how our government operates, and what we can do to make it more efficient.
Pahlka is no stranger to the complexities of public policy; she is a former deputy chief technology officer of the United States and the creator of Code for America, an organization dedicated to making government work for people in the digital age. With her experience and expertise, Pahlka details why government is struggling in the digital age: a rigid, industrial-era culture that leads to lofty goals morphing unrecognizably as they cascade through a complex hierarchy.
But there’s hope! Rather than trying to move the existing government onto new technology, Pahlka argues we should consider recoding American government. This would involve a shift in approach from one of top-down dictation and power dynamics to an emphasis on localism, decentralization, and collaboration between citizens and the governments they elect.
Recoding America is essential reading for anyone interested in modernizing our political systems to better meet the needs of today’s citizens. While the book primarily focuses on national and state-level policy-making and implementation, city planners can learn overarching principles that can be applied to local land-use regulations and how they are implemented. Pahlka has laid out a plan for how we can do better—the next step is up to us.