ABSTRACT
The art of governing is about looking to the future. Yet, public administration, as a discipline, is inclined to study past or present occurrences. Policy making requires that governments consider current problems, their potential evolution, different policy options, and the best policy to obtain desired outcomes. Decisions are made based on expected impacts, considering how the real world is to develop. Policy making is also about analyzing problems that may not yet be prescient, but that are, or are likely to become, of great significance and for which intervention may be required now or in the near future. Governments are thus interested in foresight, but public administration scholars, in their focus on understanding what is happening, or what has already happened, fail to take into account how
Introduction ....................................................................................................189 Foresight ..........................................................................................................191 Scenario Building ...........................................................................................193 Foresight in Public Administration .............................................................195 Foresight in Canada .......................................................................................198
