On Reflection | The Hong Kong protests are a political crisis – and a huge opportunity for the government
- Crises are an invaluable opportunity to remake long-held organisational habits that are no longer fit for purpose
- The current situation in Hong Kong is a chance for the city to embark on far-reaching socioeconomic policy and institutional reforms, writes Donald Low
“You never let a serious crisis go to waste … It’s an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.” This was the advice given by Rahm Emanuel, the chief of staff to then US President Barack Obama, at the height of the global financial crisis in 2009.
Within nine months of the collapse of the Lehman Brothers investment bank, Obama introduced proposals for a “sweeping overhaul of the United States financial regulatory system, a transformation on a scale not seen since the reforms that followed the Great Depression”.
This eventually led to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act enacted in July 2010. Despite some criticisms (especially from the financial industry), Dodd-Frank is generally regarded to have bolstered the US’ financial stability and resilience against future crises.
Crises are a valuable opportunity for leaders to remake long-held organisational habits that are no longer fit for purpose. The administrators at the US space agency Nasa had tried for years to improve the agency’s safety protocols and routines, but they succeeded only after the space shuttle Challenger disintegrated in 1986. The cockpit design of commercial aircraft, runway procedures and air traffic controller communications routines were overhauled only after the Tenerife airport disaster of 1977 that killed 583 people.
While specific policy measures in areas such as public housing, retirement financing and health-care provision are urgent and necessary, these should be underpinned by a fundamental rethink of the government’s ideologies and habits (not least their habits of mind) in at least three ways.
STATE AND MARKET