What are the most appropriate institutional arrangements for effective governance? How can governance systems effectively operate across different levels, such as local, regional, national, and supranational? How can governments improve their capacity to evaluate policies, learn from successes and failures, and adapt to changing circumstances?

In answering these questions, most of the debate focuses on creating new processes within government. It's easy to think of government as an amorphous, soulless mass: at its best, it is an efficient machine; at its worst, a tool for tyrants. Too many well-meaning theories seem to forget the agency of each government's people: civil servants. But civil servants are neither a machine nor a tool.

This report features:

• a case for transforming the civil service
• a suggestion of what a new ethos could look like based on Demos' 15-year experience and worldwide research
• case studies from an emerging ethos around the world
• thoughts from civil servants themselves
• recommendations for how to move forward