Peace

1 September 2011

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.

I have attempted to gather what I hope is a fairly thorough sampling of foresight work that has been done in an effort to deal with social change and conflict resolution, as well as conflict resolution writing that really speaks to foresight in this month's Bibliozone. If there are any other sources or projects that have been left out of the list, please do let us know. Additionally, I am working on a concept note to hopefully receive funding to properly look at the intersection between foresight and conflict resolution, if anyone would like to see this or collaborate please feel free to contact me.

Cheers,

Tessa Finlev
Research Affiliate, Institute for the Future
2012 M.A. candidate, International Political Economy and Development at Fordham University
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Twitter: futressa
Read my blog: Foresight for Peace; an odyssey to my future:

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