Future as an object of governance – commentary to Jones

Abstract

In this commentary, I reflect Rhys Jones’ (in this issue) suggestion for geographers to take part in exploring and enabling the most effective governmental configurations for just futures. Starting from a Foucauldian perspective on governance as a problematizing activity, I bring to the fore that the future is not something that waits out there to be seized by rulers but a social and political construction dictated by the conditions of the present. Moreover, I also highlight that a conventional scalar framework is not sufficient for understanding complex networks of governance in an increasingly globalized policy world. Accordingly, in studying the future as an object of governance we need to be aware of the engagement of nationally/regionally situated policies with prevailing power relations which extend well beyond the territorial boundaries of governance and which regulate our capacities to imagine the future(s). This is of utmost importance for geographers entering the policy world.