What the Pacing Problem Means for Parliaments Around the World
From small island parliaments to large national assemblies, legislatures around the globe face a critical challenge: the pacing problem. At POPVOX Foundation, helping parliaments meet this challenge is central to our mission.
The term was coined by Dr. Gary Marchant to describe the rapid pace at which technology is evolving and democratic institutions’ inability to keep up. It’s a dynamic POPVOX Foundation has observed directly through sustained engagement with parliaments, original research, and the Modern Parliament (ModParl) newsletter (which tracks how legislatures around the world are responding). The gap between technological change and governmental response continues to widen, leaving institutions struggling to understand, adopt, regulate, and oversee the very technologies reshaping the societies they serve.
Democracy is intentionally friction-based. It relies on deliberation, debate, public input, and procedural safeguards. Technology, by contrast, is friction-minimizing. It is designed to move fast, iterate rapidly, and scale easily. The pacing problem emerges from this structural tension: legislatures are built for thoughtful deliberation, while the technologies they must oversee are built for speed.
In previous posts, we’ve written extensively about why the pacing problem matters for the US Congress, but it is a dynamic at play for democratic institutions around the world, regardless of region, resources, or an institution’s age. That shared experience creates an opportunity for mutual learning. In 2019, POPVOX Foundation cofounder Marci Harris identified three distinct pacing problems: the external, the interbranch, and the internal.
The External Pacing Problem
The external pacing problem is centered around the question: do the Members and staff serving in democratic institutions sufficiently understand the technology so that they can make effective policy?
Lawmakers will be best equipped to govern in the modern world if they have the means to truly understand the emerging technologies that are affecting every sector of society.
The Interbranch Pacing Problem
Parliaments face another challenge within government itself: keeping pace with other branches.
Executive branches are often less constrained and able to adopt ambitious programs, racing ahead their parliamentary peers. In recent years, many governments have deployed AI tools for government services and public administration, yet legislatures (with their independently managed internal operations) often struggle to adopt similar tools for their representative, policy, and oversight duties.
When the interbranch pacing gap widens, delegation to the Executive branch may increase, not necessarily by design, but because technical complexity and speed make scrutiny harder. Over time, this risks shifting institutional balance away from legislatures, undermining the separation of powers that democratic systems rely on. Democratic accountability depends on legislatures being able to keep pace; and that starts with investing in their own capacity.
The Internal Pacing Problem
For legislatures to effectively make policy and conduct oversight — or to respond well to any policy challenge — they must first be equipped with modern tools and workflows themselves.
Artificial intelligence is the most recent example of how a technological shift can exacerbate the pacing problem for lawmakers. But it can also be the tool that helps them rise to the challenge. AI can help legislatures “leapfrog” previous challenges, such as outdated or paper-based systems, and can help make sense of records, research, and constituent input.
AI has become a global equalizer, not because every parliament has the same capacity, but because every parliament now faces similar institutional questions. Legislatures are asking:
Are our records structured and searchable?
Can our data systems support AI tools responsibly?
Do our internal rules allow us to experiment and innovate?
How can we effectively adopt these new technologies in our workflows?
AI can help legislatures to respond more effectively to the myriad policy challenges they face, from climate to public health, to economic policy, by helping them better process information and improve their workflows.
Learning & Building Together with POPVOX Foundation
The pacing problem can feel abstract, but it shows up in very practical ways: in staffing decisions, technology procurement, digitization backlogs, and developing oversight mechanisms. Our team works directly with parliaments to navigate these challenges. We meet legislatures where they are and help them maximize their resources and close their innovation gap.
POPVOX Foundation’s work focuses on the internal and interbranch pacing problems. To help close the interbranch pacing gap, our work on closing the feedback loop explores how legislatures can strengthen oversight of Executive branch implementation. For the internal pacing problem, our Digital Parliaments Project works with legislatures to digitize records and build the infrastructure that modern governance requires. We also offer AI training guides and resources to demystify this emerging technology and cutting edge functionalities.
Our ModParl newsletter also tracks how parliaments around the world are tackling all facets of the pacing problem. Each edition features interviews with parliamentary staff and modernizers, examples of tools legislatures are building themselves, and insights from global convenings. Information sharing across borders helps lawmakers worldwide stay on the leading edge of emerging technologies.
We’re always learning too. If your parliament is tackling these pacing problems in new ways, or if there are resources that would be helpful, reach out to aubrey@popvox.org or chloe@popvox.org.