Institute for Competitive Governance

ICG Mission Statement

The Institute for Competitive Governance (ICG) wants to show the world a better way to better government by encouraging the research and development of relatively small but deeply innovative special jurisdictions. 

This sort of structural reform can put the power of private competition to work at finding new solutions to oldest problems of public life. As the world has grown increasingly complex and interconnected, governments’ reform efforts have fallen behind the pace of change.

Special jurisdictions, defined as areas exempt from one or more national laws, offer a tool by which countries can test new laws, implement international best practices, and ensure competitiveness for the 21st century.

Competition between special jurisdictions embodies the best aspects of market competition, ensuring that successful practices are rapidly adopted. China lifted 700 million people out of poverty in a large part due to the rapid expansion of special economic zones inspired by Hong Kong.

Their success, among others, has opened new vistas for improving governing services with narrow but deep reforms. The Competitive Governance Institute furthers this area of governmental innovation by generating scholarly work to inform policymakers about special jurisdictions.

ICG promotes the study and development of special jurisdictions through white papers, public education, and advice to policymakers. The Institute maintains a non-partisanship approach to its topic, however, seeking only the universally acceptable goal of improving human communities.

Types of Special Jurisdictions include:

Special Economic Zones; Special Jurisdictions with legal exemptions from select laws–typically, import restrictions and taxes–but sometimes with their own commercial codes, examples include Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Dubai.

Charter Cities; Mixed use urban developments administered by third party governments within a host country. Examples include Early American colonies, like Pennsylvania, and proposed contemporary ones.

Private Cities; Privately owned and operated mixed use urban developments.  Examples include city-sized HOAs like Highland Park, Colorado, and the Gurgaon in northern India.

Cooperatives; Communities in which the residents manage their jointly-owned property, examples include Co-Op City in the Bronx area of New York, NY, and Marilenda, Spain.

Microstates; Small states, often no larger than cities, examples include Liechtenstein, a microstate with one of the highest GDP Per Capita in the world. link