Shaping Tomorrow's World

Elke Seefried holds the Chair for Modern and Contemporary History and Cultures of Knowledge (19th-21st Century) at RWTH Aachen University. For the German edition of the present book, entitled "Zukünfte," she has received three major research awards: the biennially awarded Carl Erdmann Prize of the German Association of Historians for the best habilitation thesis, the Max Weber Prize of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences, as well as the translation prize of Humanities International - Translation Funding for Work in the Humanities and Social Sciences from Germany.

"This new book marks a milestone in the still young field that investigates the history of the future." • Historische Zeitschrift“This book constitutes a major contribution on the history of futures studies from 1945 to 1980, and will be a standard reference for scholars in this field." • pro Zukunft

• List of IllustrationsList of AbbreviationsPrefaceIntroductionChapter 1. Roots in Early Twentieth CenturyFrom Prophecy to PrognosticsThe Future as a Literary GenreThe Rise of “High Modernist” Political PlanningThe Catalytic Role of World War IIConcluding RemarksChapter 2. Cold War ScienceBig Science and Technological CulturesRAND, Cybernetics, and Game Theory: Providing the TheoriesSimulation Modelling, Scenario Writing, and Delphi: Developing Forecasting TechniquesTransatlantic Platforms and Cold War Spearheads: The Congress for Cultural Freedom and the Ford FoundationFrench Connection: Ford, Planification and the Founding of FuturiblesEmerging Future Studies in State Socialism: Cold War Based Socialist Forecasting and Socialist FuturologyConcluding RemarksChapter 3. Conceptualizing Futures Studies: Key Figures and Thought StylesNormative Style of ThoughtSecuring Freedom and Authority: Bertrand de Jouvenel Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker and the Search for Securing PeaceConcluding Remarks on the Normative Style of ThoughtEmpirical and Positivistic Style of ThoughtSocial Forecasting and Social Technology: Daniel Bell and Olaf HelmerPositivism and Technological Optimism: Herman Kahn and Karl SteinbuchCritical and Emancipatory Style of ThoughtCharacteristics of the Critical-Emancipatory Style of ThoughtSocialist Humanism: Ossip K. Flechtheim’s Path to Futurology From “Blind” to “Seeing”Progress: Robert JungkImagining, Planning, Shaping Futures: Flechtheim’s and Jungk’s Changing Conceptions of Futures StudiesConcluding Remarks on the Critical and Emancipatory Thought StyleChapter 4. Constructing Futurology? The Emerging Futures Field and the Public SphereScience and the Public SphereFutures Studies and the Changing Science–Media–Public NexusConcluding RemarksChapter 5. Conflicting Futures: West German Futures Studies Organizations in the 1960sPeace Studies and Futures Studies: The Founding of the Max-Planck-Institute in StarnbergSystems Analysis between Planning and Participation: The Studiengruppe für SystemforschungSystems, Models, Learning: The Center Berlin for Futures Research (ZBZ)Ideologized Futures in Conflict: The Gesellschaft für Zukunftsfragen (GfZ)Concluding RemarksChapter 6. Bridging East and West: Mankind 2000 and the Founding of the World Future Studies FederationPeace Movements and Futures StudiesOn the Path to OsloTechnological Optimism and a Spirit of Feasibility: The Oslo Congress in 1967 A Look Out Agency for Europe?From High-Tech Visions to World Futures: The International Future Research Conference in Kyoto 1970Cold War Détente Encounters in Bucharest and the Founding of the WFSFConcluding RemarksChapter 7. Controlling the World’s Future: The Early History of the Club of RomeThe OECD Nucleus of the ClubAurelio Peccei, IIASA and the Founding of the Club of RomeThe Bellagio ConferenceAn Elitist Circle: The Club of Rome and its First “Project 1970”Concluding RemarksChapter 8. The Environmental Turn in Futures Studies: The Debate about the Limits to Growth, 1972–73An Environmental Revolution around 1970The Limits to Growth Study, 1972The Debate on the Limits to Growth studyEffects of the Debate for the Futures Field and BeyondConcluding RemarksChapter 9. Glocalization and a Subjective Turn: Futures Studies in the 1970sHuman-Centered Futures: The 1973 Rome Conference of the WFSFShaping the Future from the Bottom-Up and Globally: Dubrovnik, Berlin and the Concept of Future WorkshopsModeling the World’s Future: The Club of Rome and IIASA in mid 1970sGlobal and Local Futures: Rethinking and Practicing Futures Studies in 1970s West GermanyConcluding RemarksChapter 10. Global Solidarity versus Economic Competitiveness: The Futures Field since the late 1970sClosing Doors: West German Futures Studies in the late 1970s and 1980sThe WFSF between World Order and UtopiaAn Economic Turn in Futures Studies?ConclusionBibliographyIndex