Responding to a New Era: From Pressure Points to Strategy in a Transformed Global Landscape

The 2026 Public Sector Strategy Network retreat is a focused, high-level strategic convening for senior public-sector leaders navigating a governing environment that has fundamentally diverged from the conditions under which public institutions were originally designed. Over two days, the retreat will examine what is structurally different about today’s pressure points, analyse emerging institutional responses from across regions, and explore the strategic capabilities governments need to move from diagnosis to effective implementation. The emphasis is on applicability, capability, and strategic readiness—rather than reiterating familiar narratives of disruption.

The retreat builds directly on the outcomes of the 2025 Public Sector Strategy Network retreat, which framed the transformed strategic environment through three interlinked dynamics: the Durability Trap, Adaptation Gaps, and Critical Transitions. Together, these dynamics describe a central challenge now facing governments globally: institutions built for stability are increasingly required to operate under conditions of sustained volatility, geopolitical uncertainty, and heightened public expectations.

The Durability Trap highlighted how assumptions about geopolitical predictability, economic integration, and institutional trust have weakened globally. The earlier consensus that economic interdependence would reinforce political stability has eroded, exposing the rigidity of institutional models designed for continuity rather than disruption. Governments are now confronted with a fundamental strategic dilemma: How can the prized feature of institutional durability be adapted while still preserving social and economic prosperity?

At the same time, the Adaptation Gaps have widened. Governments are able to diagnose emerging pressures but remain structurally constrained in how quickly and effectively they can respond. Institutions optimised for steady-state governance struggle to absorb rapid strategic shifts, integrate technological disruption, embed innovation at scale, or build resilience-oriented capabilities. In many contexts, prolonged misalignment between ambition and execution has produced internal strain that is approaching a breaking point. This raises pressing questions about what effective reform looks like in practice, how positive adaptation differs from maladaptive change, and how governments can address social stability while managing rapid transformation.

Finally, the Critical Transitions revealed where the tension between institutional durability and adaptability becomes most politically consequential. Misalignment between strategic intent and the state’s capacity to deliver has eroded public confidence and constrained decisive action during crises and prolonged uncertainty. This tension surfaces a core set of political challenges: how can politicians address critical long-term issues such as climate, energy, and digital transitions while still projecting legitimacy? How can short-term needs such as employment, cost of living, healthcare access, housing, and migration be credibly addressed while remaining committed to maintaining a sustainable future for the next generation?  What new approaches to coordination and legitimacy can enable policymakers to bring forth governance innovation from seemingly contradictory objectives?
 
Taken together, these dynamics point to a structural transformation rather than an intensification of familiar trends. The erosion of predictable multilateralism raises fundamental questions about how cooperation is organised when stability can no longer be assumed. The growing emphasis on resilience and strategic autonomy requires governments to rethink strategy frameworks, institutional capabilities, and the basis on which legitimacy is sustained when citizens are asked to absorb the costs of long-term adjustment. A central question is whether existing institutions can be adapted at sufficient depth and speed to remain effective, or whether the current moment requires more fundamental institutional redesign. The retreat will explore what credible pathways for reform, renewal, or reinvention look like in practice, and what capabilities are required to move from strategic diagnosis to sustained implementation. Through comparative case studies and practical exercises, the 2026 retreat provides a dedicated space for senior public-sector leaders to engage these challenges rigorously and pragmatically, grounded in real institutional experience and focused on what it will take to govern effectively in a transformed strategic environment.