Forward Engagement

Forward Engagement is a concept developed by Professor Leon Fuerth (George Washington University) that describes the process of thinking systematically about the longer-range future, and about ways in which corporate and public policy might engage the future sooner, rather than later. Forward Engagement conveys a three-part thought:

(1) We are facing an acceleration of major historical events, some of them carrying the potential for major societal and international consequences

(2) Society in general and government in particular, need to address such possibilities as far in advance as possible, in terms of policies and resources

(3) There needs to be a system to help government visualize more consistently what may be approaching from the longer-range future, and to deliberate in a more timely way about possible responses.

http://www.forwardengagement.org

The capacity of organizations working in the national and international security area to make good decisions depends to a large degree on their ability to anticipate the behavior of complex social and political systems. Our far from perfect knowledge of these systems, the uncertainty and ambiguity associated with their future developments, and often conflicting perspectives of various decision makers further complicate this work.

The organizations dealing with national and international security issues need to build a rigorous “future preparedness” process that drives their collective learning about the behavior of those complex systems. They need effective tools to build this process. The Future Map is a tool that helps decision makers visualize the future and map out their policy responses.

For more information please see the article “Improving decision making in the area of national and international security – the future map methodology”