Anticipatory Governance: Analysis of Concept, Position, and Implications

This paper explores the concept of Anticipatory Governanceas a new model of governance. The analysis defines governance as a broad, interdisciplinary guiding activity that engages multiple stakeholders beyond traditional governance and defines foresight as a systematic process of envisioning alternative futures in order to inform current actions to build desired futures. Predictive governance, as a combination of these concepts, is presented as a proactive and forward-looking decision-making approach that continuously examines potential changes. The analysis positions Anticipatory Governanceas a distinct model that moves beyond reactive and some traditional proactive approaches by embracing uncertainty and focusing on long-term challenges. Key components discussed include foresight, networked systems, feedback loops, capacity building, policy integration, partnerships, data/technology use and monitoring experiments. These concepts highlight potential benefits such as improved policymaking and navigating complexity, alongside challenges such as short-termism and data governance issues. Therefore, this paper attempts to briefly explore this concept using a descriptive analytical method.