Polity Atlas
05 · Future Observatory

Watching society transform

Research, technology shifts, AI governance, post-labour economics and digital statehood — each item tagged with its status and the claims it changes.

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BriefingAI & the Future of Governance
Established

AI is everywhere in OECD governments; evaluation is not

The OECD Digital Government Outlook 2026 reports AI use in at least one government function in 35 of 36 surveyed countries, but only 10 report any evaluation.

2026-09-15 · AI & the Future of Governance

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2026-07-28SignalSignal: Irish assembly recommendations are followed up unevenlyIreland's biodiversity assembly reports high uptake by the government's own count, while the Dublin assembly's mayor proposal was still 'under consideration' in July 2026, more than three years after its report.Hypothesis2026-07-27BriefingEU AI Act timetable changes: high-risk rules move to 2027-2028Regulation (EU) 2026/1744 (the Digital Omnibus on AI) entered into force on 27 July 2026. Annex III high-risk obligations now apply from 2 December 2027 and Annex I product-embedded systems from 2 August 2028.Established2026-06-18SignalSignal: citizens' assemblies becoming a routine instrumentIreland has convened several citizens' assemblies since 2016; random-selection bodies are increasingly part of the ordinary toolkit rather than one-off experiments.Theory2026-05-20SignalSignal: temporary 'pop-up cities' as a testbed for network communitiesAfter Zuzalu in 2023, several groups have organised temporary residential gatherings to trial community-first governance without claiming sovereignty.Hypothesis2026-03-10ResearchLessons from the Dutch childcare-benefits scandalA parliamentary inquiry found 'unprecedented injustice' in how tax authorities treated families suspected of fraud; the cabinet resigned in January 2021.Established2026-02-02ResearchWhat Finland's basic income experiment did — and did not — showUnconditional payments to unemployed people had small employment effects and improved wellbeing; the design cannot tell us what a universal scheme would do.Established2026-01-05BriefingHow to read epistemic statuses in Polity AtlasEvery claim is labelled established, theory, disputed, hypothesis or forecast — and separately as verified or not. Here is what the labels mean.Established2025-09-28NewsSwiss voters approve a state-issued e-ID by a narrow marginOn 28 September 2025 Swiss voters accepted the federal e-ID Act by 50.39% to 49.61%, four years after rejecting an earlier e-ID law that would have relied on private issuers.Swiss Federal Statistical Office / Federal Chancellery (Popular Votes Dashboard)Established2025-07-03NewsInter-American Court recognises Nature as a subject of rightsIn Advisory Opinion OC-32/25, adopted on 29 May 2025 and notified on 3 July 2025, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights states that recognising Nature as a subject of rights is compatible with the inter-American system.Inter-American Court of Human RightsEstablished2025-04-09ResearchGerman basic-income pilot: little labour-market withdrawal, better wellbeingA three-year German study of €1,200 monthly unconditional payments reported in April 2025 no significant withdrawal from work and clear gains in mental health and life satisfaction, in a small, selected sample.Established2025-02-26NewsICSID tribunal lets the Próspera arbitration against Honduras proceedOn 26 February 2025 the tribunal in Honduras Próspera Inc. v. Honduras rejected Honduras' objection that local remedies had not been exhausted. It is a ruling on admissibility, not on the merits.International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID)Established2024-12-17BriefingUK makes algorithm transparency records mandatory for central governmentThe UK's Algorithmic Transparency Recording Standard was mandated across government departments in February 2024; a scope and exemptions policy published on 17 December 2024 defines which bodies and tools must publish records.Established2024-10-01NewsHonduras' Supreme Court rules ZEDE framework unconstitutionalThe 2024 ruling removes the legal basis on which Próspera and other ZEDEs were created; their future now runs through politics and international arbitration.Corte Suprema de Justicia de HondurasEstablished2024-09-05NewsFirst binding international treaty on AI opens for signatureThe Council of Europe Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law opened for signature on 5 September 2024 in Vilnius.Council of EuropeEstablished2024-08-01NewsEU AI Act enters into forceRegulation (EU) 2024/1689 entered into force on 1 August 2024. Many public-sector uses of AI, including in access to public benefits and the administration of justice, are classed as high-risk.Official Journal of the European UnionEstablished2023-12-07NewsEU court: an automated credit score can itself be an 'automated decision'In SCHUFA (C-634/21), decided on 7 December 2023, the Court of Justice held that an automated score can fall under GDPR Article 22 when a third party draws strongly on it for a contract decision.Court of Justice of the European UnionEstablished2023-07-07ResearchRobodebt: what a Royal Commission found about automated debt-raisingAustralia's Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme reported in July 2023 on a welfare-debt programme that relied on averaging annual income data.Established