Foresight and Politics

When it comes to politics and decision-making, what is the point of the foresight approach, and how useful is it? The question is a difficult one to answer, because of the complex linkage between thought, decision-making, and action. Equally, the question reveals the key functions of foresight: the desire of actors to have the ability to interrogate preconceived ideas, and from there to interrogate the patterns of investigation and reasoning that for the most part restrain action. Additionally, the paper examines the function of foresight in developing the capacity for anticipation. Indeed, without anticipation, leadership is forced to simply manage what comes. Foresight, the paper suggests, gives meaning and coherence to the medium and long-term measures that need to be taken in the short-tem. Hence, foresight can be described as a philosophy and a logic to be discovered as much as constructed.

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When it comes to politics and decision-making, what is the point of the foresight approach, and how useful is it? The question is a difficult one to answer, because of the complex linkage between thought, decision-making, and action. Equally, the question reveals the key functions of foresight: the desire of actors to have the ability to interrogate preconceived ideas, and from there to interrogate the patterns of investigation and reasoning that for the most part restrain action. Additionally, the paper examines the function of foresight in developing the capacity for anticipation. Indeed, without anticipation, leadership is forced to simply manage what comes. Foresight, the paper suggests, gives meaning and coherence to the medium and long-term measures that need to be taken in the short-tem. Hence, foresight can be described as a philosophy and a logic to be discovered as much as constructed.

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