Futures studies

Engineering

Philosophy

Anticipation (artificial intelligence)

Public relations

Futures contract

Economics

Computer science

Anthropology

Corporate governance

Environmental ethics

Politics

Management

Global governance

Political science

Epistemology

International relations

Sociology

Artificial intelligence

Financial economics

Public administration

Perspective (graphical)

Vision

Engineering ethics

Global Society

This special issue introduction develops the concept of anticipatory global governance by focusing on the practices through which international organisations (IOs) imagine and establish “present futures” across diverse transnational issue areas. Rather than following a conventional chronological stance, the contributors adopt a constructivist perspective on time to detail the logics and effects of anticipatory practices. In this introductory article, we suggest that the analysis of IOs’ anticipatory practices and the resulting present futures can broaden our understanding of global governance in two ways. First, we highlight the implications of how IOs problematise and govern yet-uncertain future transnational issues. Second, we reveal how in this process IOs perform, rather than simply wield, authority by sanctioning a wide range of visions. The special issue develops a general conceptual vocabulary for the study of anticipatory global governance, and provides empirical evidence on how IOs govern by anticipation.

Anticipatory Global Governance: International Organisations and the Politics of the Future