The ESPAS network and the growth of EU foresight

Abstract

AbstractThis article examines the European Strategy and Policy Analysis System (ESPAS) network and assesses its impact on efforts to embed strategic foresight in EU policy‐making. It analyses the development of the network through three stages: preparatory steps to 2014, quasi‐institutionalisation from 2015 and high‐level anchoring from 2019. Throughout, the view that a new approach to strategic analysis was needed met concerns about preserving institutional prerogatives and competences. The article suggests that this tension mitigated the network's impact, which has been more significant on matters of process than of substance. Achievements include the creation of foresight capacity and of dialogue across institutional and sectoral boundaries and greater appreciation of the interdependence of global challenges across different domains. Progress towards deeper engagement with worst‐case scenarios and with the challenge of societal fragmentation has been more limited.