whole of society

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

an idiom and policy concept describing an approach to addressing complex challenges — including pandemics, climate change, conflict prevention, and sustainable development — that actively engages all sectors and actors within a society: government at all levels, the private sector, civil society, communities, households, and individuals, rather than relying solely on state institutions or a single sector to drive change; the whole-of-society approach recognises that many development challenges exceed the capacity of any single actor and require the complementary contributions of diverse stakeholders, each bringing different resources, perspectives, and accountability relationships; it has been particularly prominent in pandemic preparedness frameworks, counterterrorism policy, and national development planning where coordination across sectors is essential; the approach raises governance challenges around how to coordinate diverse actors with different interests and incentives, how to ensure accountability for collective outcomes, and how to prevent powerful private or civil society actors from capturing whole-of-society processes to serve particular interests at the expense of the most marginalised