City futures in transformation: Emerging issues and case studies

This article discusses: 1. The recent/increasing prominence of cities as agents of global change; 2. Emerging issues that are likely to influence the direction of city futures in novel ways; 3. The theory and practise of city futures projects; and 4. Case studies of cities engaged in foresight projects.     

The futures of democracy in Pakistan: A liberal perspective

Due to the domination of state institutions over political institutions, Pakistan has not experienced a steady consolidation of democracy over its fifty year history. This is manifest in the lack of roots of constitutionalism, the absence of fully autonomous judiciary, a well developed party system and regularly held fair elections. Recent political developments such as the gradual withdrawal of state institutions particularly the military from the political arena, greater assertiveness of the judiciary, parliaments' curtailment of president powers and rising political consciousness among the people have brightened the chances of survival of democracy in the country. Its further consolidation will depend on the capacity of elected leaders to address the serious problems of ethnic and religious dissensions, financial vulnerability, heavy indebtedness, skyrocketing inflation and serious economic disparities.     

The concept of the Pacific shift

This article introduces the concept of the Pacific Shift—not merely a transfer of economic wealth from one centre to another, but also the transfer of cultural myth and idea innovation from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The article is part of a larger study undertaken at the Hawaii Judiciary to understand how such a shift may affect Hawaii's legal system.     

Deconstructing the information era

Information theory, while claiming universality, ignores civilisation and spiritual perspectives of knowledge. Moreover, the information society heralded by many as the victory of humanity over darkness is merely capitalism disguised but now commodifying selves as well. This essay argues for a more communicative approach wherein futures can be created through authentic global conversations--a gaia of civilisations. Current trends, however, do not lie in that direction. Instead, we are moving towards temporal and cultural impoverishment. Is the Web then the iron cage or can a global ohana (family, civil society) be created through cybertechnologies? Answering these and other questions are possible only when we move to layers of analysis outside conventional understandings of information and the information era and to a paradigm where communication and culture are central.     

Transformative foresight: Universiti Sains Malaysia leads the way

This article describes Universiti Sains Malaysia's foresight journey. It begins by exploring five alternative scenarios of higher education: (1) The A’ la Carte University, (2) The Invisible University, (3) The Corporate University, (4) The State University, and (5) The University in The Garden. These scenarios are followed by Universiti Sains Malaysia's preferred vision of the future. It then examines the journey towards the preferred visión by articulating four stages of transformation: visioning, contesting, dynamic equilibrium, and self-direction/externalisation. The article concludes with an analysis of USM's current position, in transition between the contestation and dynamic equilibrium stages.     

Futures and the organization: The Hawaii Judiciary research programme

The author reports on the experiment to introduce a futures research programme at the Hawaii Judiciary in Honolulu. Its successes and failures and the problems and challenges associated with ‘futurizing’ an organization are discussed.