Foresight and Peace

This month on FFD we are focusing on peace and foresight with the hopes of opening up some dialogue regarding the current use of—as well as the potential use of—foresight for conflict resolution.

I have been working in the futures thinking world for about 3 years and have seen such a big potential for the conflict resolution field and the futures thinking filed to work together in a more systematic way. Last semester in graduate school I took a course on conflict resolution and was floored by how obvious the link seemed to me. So many of the issues conflict resolution experts and peacebuilders struggle to deal with seem to be crying out for foresight processes—from allowing everyone’s story to be told to confronting mental maps and personal biases. From creating a common yet plausible vision of the future to opening up alternative choices, or creating a non-zero sum relationship with conflicting parties. Foresight processes are even useful in providing space for creativity, a process that conflict resolution practitioners often see as necessary in order to articulate the most complex and conflictual issues of our time.

Cheers,
Tessa Finlev

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Futurist profile
of the month

Senior lecturer on scenario planning at Wits University in Johannesburg, South Africa. Long Now futurist, author, storyteller and social commentator.

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Bibliozone

Foresight and peace have a history together, though perhaps not well known or understood. Below is our attempt to gather that history under one roof.