Governance in Times of AI and Smart Technologies
Different histories. Different contexts. Shared governance challenges.
AI governance did not begin with artificial intelligence. The rules, institutions and values through which societies govern technology have developed over centuries — shaped by law, education, culture, religion, economic development and institutional experience.
Today, AI and smart technologies increasingly cross borders and connect systems that evolved under very different conditions.
That is why understanding context matters.
Selected historical turning points are grouped by theme, not as a single chronological ladder. Global North and Global South are present-day lenses, not fixed labels for medieval societies. These examples do not represent every society in either region; their significance for governance is an editorial interpretation of the cited history. Examples from Muslim-majority societies distinguish religiously informed institutions, legal scholarship, imperial reforms and modern national policy. These histories are diverse and do not constitute one uniform Islamic regulatory model.
Continue to Global Reach ↓- 01
Governance Before Technology
Societies have always developed ways to organise authority, responsibility and acceptable behaviour. Customs, law, community structures, moral principles and religious traditions shaped how decisions were made long before modern technology existed.
Historical turning points
1215England
Magna Carta
Magna Carta recorded limits on royal power. Its original protections were restricted; it was not a modern declaration of equal rights.
Why this mattered for governance
It became an influential reference for the principle that government is subject to law.
Source: UK Parliament
Early 13th centuryWest Africa · Manden
The Manden Charter
UNESCO describes the proclamation of the Manden Charter in the early thirteenth century in the region of present-day Guinea and Mali. It survives through oral transmission.
Why this mattered for governance
It provides a different historical example of articulating principles for social order and coexistence. Its oral history should not be presented as a precisely dated modern legal text.
Source: UNESCO
8th–9th centuriesEgypt · early Islamic administration
Market supervision and the roots of hisba
Historical evidence from Egypt includes market supervisors and official names on glass weights and measures. The titles sahib al-suq and muhtasib appear in the evidence for early market administration.
Why this mattered for governance
Rules for exchange needed officials and practical means of checking compliance. This is evidence of early regulatory practice, not a claim that all Muslim societies shared one system or that modern regulation began here.
Source: Cambridge University Press · The Law of the Market
- 02
Institutions, Education and Law
As societies became more complex, governance increasingly moved into formal institutions. Legal systems, education, public administration and professional structures created different models of authority and accountability.
Historical turning points
1950Europe
European Convention on Human Rights
The Convention was signed on 4 November 1950; it entered into force in 1953.
Why this mattered for governance
Rights protection became a matter of regional treaty commitments, extending accountability beyond domestic institutions.
Source: Council of Europe
1950India
A constitutional republic
India’s Constitution came into force on 26 January 1950, establishing the constitutional framework of the republic.
Why this mattered for governance
A post-colonial state organised public authority and fundamental rights through its own constitutional settlement. This was a different institutional pathway, not a later copy of the European treaty.
Source: Government of India · Constitution, Article 394
1869–1876Ottoman Empire
Mecelle: codifying civil law
The Mecelle was issued in successive books from 1869 to 1876. It organised selected rules of Hanafi jurisprudence into a state-issued code addressing civil transactions and judicial matters.
Why this mattered for governance
Codification made selected legal rules more readily usable by courts. It shows adaptation within an Islamic legal tradition, rather than a simple choice between unchanged tradition and importing an entire foreign code. The Mecelle did not codify every field of Islamic law.
Source: TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi · Mecelle
- 03
Different Historical Pathways
Global North and Global South did not develop under identical conditions. Industrialisation, colonial and post-colonial experiences, legal traditions, economic development, infrastructure and institutional capacity influenced governance in different ways.
Historical turning points
1955Bandung, Indonesia · Asia and Africa
The Asian–African Conference
Representatives of 29 countries met in Bandung on 18–24 April 1955. Its final communiqué set out principles of cooperation and freedom from colonial domination.
Why this mattered for governance
Newly independent and other Asian and African states asserted a stronger voice in international cooperation. Who helps define the rules matters alongside what those rules say.
Source: UNESCO · Conference archives nomination
1839Ottoman Empire
The Tanzimat reform programme
The Gülhane Edict of 1839 opened the Tanzimat reform period. Its programme addressed security of life and property, taxation and military recruitment.
Why this mattered for governance
Reform sought to make imperial administration more rule-bound. Proclaimed guarantees and their implementation must be distinguished: the edict did not instantly create equal rights or uniform practice across the empire.
Source: TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi · Tanzimat
- 04
Values and Cultural Context
Governance is also shaped by deeper social foundations. Religious and ethical traditions, community structures, concepts of responsibility, education and social trust continue to influence how societies understand legitimacy, risk and authority.
Historical turning points
1948United Nations · cross-regional collaboration
Shaping universal human rights together
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted on 10 December 1948. Eleanor Roosevelt of the United States chaired its drafting committee; Hansa Mehta of India helped secure inclusive language referring to all human beings.
Why this mattered for governance
Global principles were shaped through contributions across regions. This is an example of reciprocal influence, rather than a one-way transfer of governance ideas.
Source: United Nations · Women who shaped the Declaration · United Nations · History of the Declaration
14th–early 15th centuriesBursa · Ottoman Empire
Waqf endowments and public services
Bursa’s early Ottoman urban system linked waqf endowments, villages and public complexes containing religious, educational and social facilities. Ahi organisations also helped organise commercial life.
Why this mattered for governance
Governance included arrangements for sustaining shared services and organising economic activity. Religious foundations, community institutions and rulers played interconnected roles; this was not simply a modern state-agency model.
Source: UNESCO · Bursa and Cumalıkızık
- 05
Industrial and Technological Transformation
Industrialisation increased the scale of technological impact. Infrastructure, energy systems, transportation and communications required new rules, standards and institutions capable of managing risks across larger populations.
Historical turning points
1919International · including India
The International Labour Organization
The ILO was created in 1919 to advance social justice through international labour cooperation. India was among its founding members, before independence.
Why this mattered for governance
Industrial risks and working conditions became subjects of international standards and dialogue among governments, employers and workers. Participation also occurred within unequal colonial conditions.
Source: International Labour Organization · History · ILO · India
- 06
The Digital Age
Computers, software and global networks changed the nature of governance again. Information began moving across borders almost instantly, while digital systems increasingly connected institutions, markets and societies.
Historical turning points
1981Council of Europe
Convention 108
Convention 108 opened for signature on 28 January 1981 as the first legally binding international instrument in data protection.
Why this mattered for governance
Automated processing of personal data became a subject of cross-border rights protection. Its significance extends beyond the technology itself to responsibilities for handling information.
Source: Council of Europe
2014African Union
The Malabo Convention
The African Union adopted its Convention on Cyber Security and Personal Data Protection on 27 June 2014.
Why this mattered for governance
The Convention links data protection, cybersecurity and electronic transactions within an African regional framework. Adoption does not mean every member state has ratified or implemented it.
Source: African Union · Treaty record
2002Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia · international cooperation
Islamic Financial Services Board
The IFSB was inaugurated on 3 November 2002 to develop prudential, supervisory and disclosure standards for Islamic financial services and cooperate with other international standard-setting bodies.
Why this mattered for governance
This offers a concrete example of connecting international supervisory practice with the distinctive structures and risks of Islamic finance. Standards support cooperation; they do not replace the authority of national regulators.
Source: Bank Negara Malaysia · Inauguration address
- 07
Smart Technologies
Sensors, connected infrastructure, automated systems and real-time data introduced technologies that no longer operate only as isolated tools. Decisions increasingly move between machines, institutions and human actors.
Historical turning points
2003 → 2005Geneva, Switzerland → Tunis, Tunisia
World Summit on the Information Society
The summit met in Geneva in December 2003 and Tunis in November 2005. It addressed the development of an inclusive information society.
Why this mattered for governance
The two phases connected digital governance with access, development and international cooperation. Connected technologies require attention to who can participate, not only technical interoperability.
Source: International Telecommunication Union
- 08
Artificial Intelligence
AI introduces a new level of scale, speed and autonomy. Systems can generate outputs, recommend decisions and interact across complex technical environments faster than traditional governance structures were designed to follow.
Historical turning points
2021UNESCO · global cooperation
Recommendation on the Ethics of AI
UNESCO adopted its Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence on 23 November 2021.
Why this mattered for governance
It provided a shared international ethical reference for AI. A recommendation is not a binding world law, and national implementation still depends on local institutions and contexts.
Source: UNESCO
2022 → 2023Saudi Arabia
Consultation and AI ethics principles
Saudi Arabia announced SDAIA’s AI Ethics Principles for public consultation in September 2022. An official subsequent account records their issuance in 2023.
Why this mattered for governance
The example brings the story into AI governance in a Muslim-majority country. Ethical guidance, public consultation and binding legislation are different instruments; these principles should not be described as a comprehensive AI law or as representing the whole Islamic world.
Source: Saudi Press Agency · 2022 consultation · Saudi Press Agency · Confirmation of 2023 issuance
- 09
One Technology — Different Contexts
AI may operate globally, but its consequences remain contextual. Legal systems, institutional capacity, cultural expectations, economic realities and social priorities differ across regions.
A governance model that works in one environment cannot automatically be assumed to work everywhere.
Historical turning points
2024European Union
The EU AI Act enters into force
The EU AI Act entered into force on 1 August 2024, with obligations applying in stages.
Why this mattered for governance
The EU chose a binding regulatory framework organised around AI risks. Entry into force should not be confused with every obligation becoming applicable on that day.
Source: European Commission
2024African Union
Continental Artificial Intelligence Strategy
The AU Executive Council endorsed the Continental AI Strategy in Accra on 18–19 July 2024.
Why this mattered for governance
The strategy connects responsible AI with development priorities, capacity and regional cooperation. It is a strategy, not the legal equivalent of the EU AI Act.
Source: African Union
- 10
The Need for a Governance Corridor
The challenge is therefore not simply to create more regulation. It is to create mechanisms through which different contexts can be understood, compared and connected without erasing their differences.
A Bridge Between Global North & Global South
AI Governance Corridor connects regulators, experts, researchers and institutions across different legal, cultural and institutional environments.
Our purpose is not to impose one governance model on the world.
We create a corridor through which different perspectives can be compared, shared and translated into safer, more practical and context-sensitive approaches to AI governance.
Shared language does not require shared authority.
The technology may be global. Its impact is contextual. Governance must understand both.
