Less about ideas, more about institutions

For much of the past decade, development debates have been dominated by ideas rather than institutions. Grand visions, national strategies, technology roadmaps, and long-term plans have proliferated across emerging and developing economies. Artificial intelligence, clean energy, digital finance, and infrastructure have all been framed as transformative levers capable of reshaping growth trajectories.
Many of these ideas are sound. Some are overdue. Yet a growing gap has become impossible to ignore: the distance between ambition and outcomes. Countries are not failing for lack of vision. They are struggling because institutions have not kept pace with ideas.
As the global economy enters a more uncertain and competitive phase, the next stage of development will be defined less by what countries aspire to do - and more by their ability to deliver. The central challenge is no longer imagination. It is institutional capacity.
In recent years, governments across the Global South have announced AI strategies, climate action plans, digital public infrastructure initiatives, and long-term perspective visions stretching to 2040 or 2050. These documents often reflect serious intent and careful thought. Yet implementation has frequently lagged.
Projects stall. Policies conflict. Responsibilities blur across ministries. Timelines stretch. Public trust erodes.
This is not because policymakers lack intelligence or commitment. It is because institutions - the rules, organisations, incentives, and capabilities that translate ideas into action - are often fragmented, underpowered, or misaligned.
Technology has accelerated faster than governance systems were designed to absorb. Capital is more mobile than regulatory frameworks. Citizens are more informed and impatient than service delivery systems can accommodate. The result is a widening execution gap.
Development, in this context, is no longer constrained primarily by finance or knowledge. It is constrained by the ability to coordinate, prioritise, and sustain delivery.
Institutions are the real infrastructure.Physical infrastructure has long been recognised as a foundation of growth. Roads, power systems, ports, and digital networks matter. But institutional infrastructure matters just as much - and often more.
Institutions determine whether policies endure beyond electoral cycles. They shape whether investments are efficient or wasted. They influence whether innovation scales or remains trapped in pilots. They are what convert potential into productivity.
Strong institutions do not mean rigid bureaucracies. They mean clarity of roles, continuity of policy, accountability for outcomes, and the ability to learn and adapt. They align incentives across public and private actors. They reduce uncertainty and build trust.
If institutions are weak, even well-designed policies falter. But if institutions are strong, modest ideas can deliver outsized results.
Several institutional challenges now recur across developing economies.
First is fragmentation. Economic transformation requires coordination across energy, finance, technology, education, and infrastructure. Yet policymaking often remains siloed, with overlapping mandates and limited accountability.
Second is short-term outlook. Political and fiscal cycles frequently reward announcements over delivery. Projects that require sustained execution over a decade struggle to survive changes in leadership.
Third is capacity constraints. Many governments face shortages of technical skills, project management expertise, and regulatory capability - precisely in the areas where complexity is rising fastest, such as AI governance, climate finance, and digital systems.
Fourth is trust deficits. When institutions fail to deliver consistently, citizens and investors lose confidence. This increases transaction costs, fuels informality, and undermines reform efforts.
These constraints are not insurmountable. But they require deliberate attention - not just new strategies layered on top of old systems.
The times have changed. The urgency of institutional reform is sharpened by global conditions.
The fiscal space is tighter. Governments can no longer rely on large stimulus programmes or unlimited borrowing to compensate for inefficiency. Every dollar must work harder.
Competition for investment has intensified. Capital increasingly flows toward jurisdictions that offer predictability, regulatory clarity, and execution capacity - not just incentives.
Technology is raising the cost of failure. Poorly governed digital systems can amplify inequality, erode trust, and create systemic risks. Institutional weakness now carries higher stakes.
Citizens are more demanding. Access to information has raised expectations for service quality, transparency, and fairness. Development that does not translate into lived improvements quickly loses legitimacy.
In this environment, institutional performance becomes a decisive competitive advantage.
Shifting from ideas to institutions does not mean abandoning innovation or ambition. It means anchoring them in delivery.
It means prioritising sequencing over scope - doing fewer things well rather than many things poorly.
It means investing in people inside the state: technocrats, regulators, planners, and implementers who can manage complexity and adapt to change.
It means building coordination mechanisms that cut across ministries and levels of government, particularly in areas like energy transition, digital infrastructure, and urban development.
It means strengthening rule-making and enforcement, so that markets function fairly and predictably.
It also means embedding feedback loops, using data and evaluation to adjust policies rather than defending them.
None of this is glamorous. But it is decisive.
For emerging and smaller economies, the institutional challenge is also an opportunity. Many are not burdened by legacy systems that resist change. Digital tools can help modernise administration, improve procurement, and enhance service delivery - if institutions are ready to use them.
Clean energy transitions, digital finance, and AI adoption can succeed rapidly where regulatory frameworks are clear and capacity is built early. Leapfrogging is possible - but with institutional discipline.
The lesson from countries that have sustained growth is that development accelerates when institutions quietly improve, not when strategies loudly multiply.
The next phase of development will be defined by the quality of execution. By whether institutions can translate intent into outcomes, continuity into confidence, and innovation into inclusion.
This requires political leadership willing to prioritise delivery over symbolism. It requires patience to invest in systems whose returns are gradual but enduring. And it requires humility - the recognition that reform is iterative, not declarative.
Ideas still matter. Vision still matters. But in 2026 and beyond, they are no longer the binding constraint.
Institutions are.
Countries that recognise this - and act accordingly - will be best positioned to navigate uncertainty, attract investment, and deliver prosperity.

Manmohan Parkash is a former Senior Advisor to the President and former Deputy Director General for South Asia at the Asian Development Bank. manmohanparkash@gmail.com