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Politicization of Sociotechnical Futures. Prerequisites and limits

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The politicization of futures can have diverse effects. Futures can serve as contributions to problem solving, and at the same time they can generate numerous political, economic, and social problems as they are used, for example, to promote political agendas. The goal of this topical collection published in European Journal of Futures Research is to make significant progress in addressing the politicization of sociotechnical futures as well as to collect and bring together the diversity of existing research on the politicization of the future.

Guest editors: 

Paulina Dobroć, Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS), KIT, Karlsruhe, Germany

Andreas Lösch, Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS), KIT, Karlsruhe, Germany

Maximilian Roßmann, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands


 

  1. The politicisation of the future is gaining attention, especially in research on the impact of emerging technologies on modern societies. This observation has motivated technology assessment (TA) and related r...

    Authors: Paulina Dobroć and Andreas Lösch
    Citation: European Journal of Futures Research 2023 11:3
    Content type: Research Article Published on:

  2. This text explores the meaning of the expression “mined future,” which has been used by local populations who oppose lithium production in Northern Portugal. We argue that the expression encapsulates the exist...

    Authors: Emília Araújo, Sofia Bento and Marcia Silva
    Citation: European Journal of Futures Research 2022 10:23
    Content type: Research Article Published on:

  3. “Autonomous weapon systems” (AWS) have been subject to intense discussions for years. Numerous political, academic and legal actors are debating their consequences, with many calling for strict regulation or e...

    Authors: Thomas Christian Bächle and Jascha Bareis
    Citation: European Journal of Futures Research 2022 10:20
    Content type: Research Article Published on:

    The Correction to this article has been published in European Journal of Futures Research 2022 10:26

  5. Sociotechnical imaginaries play a crucial role in the context of urban air mobility. At the beginning of this article, I present the Pop.Up, commonly described as ‘air taxi’, as one such vision. Taking the ana...

    Authors: Marcel Woznica
    Citation: European Journal of Futures Research 2022 10:12
    Content type: Research Article Published on:

  7. Climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies are gaining visibility and support. Decision-makers are defending the extension of large infrastructures that are low greenhouse gas (GHG) emitters, as a way...

    Authors: Rémy Petitimbert, Gabrielle Bouleau and Clémence Guimont
    Citation: European Journal of Futures Research 2022 10:7
    Content type: Research Article Published on:

  9. Negative emissions techniques (NETs) promise to capture greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and sequester them. Since decarbonisation efforts have been slow, and the climate crisis is intensifying, it is incr...

    Authors: Nils Markusson, Duncan McLaren, Bronislaw Szerszynski, David Tyfield and Rebecca Willis
    Citation: European Journal of Futures Research 2022 10:2
    Content type: Research Article Published on: