Creative processes in policy making : a case for context in foresight

Abstract

As with all fields of application, policy-making can frequently fall into the trap of not questioning whether the regular, oft-used solutions are the only way to solve a new problem. Far too frequently, it happens that, not only is a particular policy instrument not the best answer, but it is not even a valid answer to the problem in the first place! Systematic approaches to policy formulation, such as foresight, may appear at the outset as presenting a toolkit of routinised methodologies to be followed religiously by the newly initiated. Yet foresight practice itself shows that not only do foresight experiences generated in one country or region defy close emulation, but that foresight as a phenomenon is undergoing constant change in response to the evolving socio-economic context.