This is a call for papers for a workshop that will explore the history of prediction in post-1945 Europe. In recent years, the future of Europe has acquired new political prominence. In 2019, Ursula von der Leyen announced that she would put “Foresight” at the heart of her Commission, and her Vice-President for Foresight, Maroš Šefčovič, asserted that Europe would “stive for world-class anticipatory governance”. Rising Euroscepticism, on the other hand, has prompted predictions that question the long-term future of the European project.
Prediction has, however, long been an important political, economic, and social technology. By “prediction”, we mean futurological practices such as scenario planning, Delphi surveys, Foresight studies, horizon scanning, as well as prognostics, simulations, projections, forecasts, plans, and timelines. We are inspired by recent histories that have shown the political importance that new prediction tools and techniques acquired during the Cold War, particularly in sustaining liberal capitalism, (attempts to) reform socialism, and facilitating the rise of “neoliberalism” (for example, by Jenny Andersson and Elke Seefried).
But the role of prediction in Europe’s post-1945 transformations – some of which also sought to reinvent liberal capitalism or revise socialism and communism – deserves further study. This workshop thus aims to explore and interrogate the potential intersections between these two parallel, post-war histories – the history of prediction and the history of European transformations after 1945 (including histories of the Cold War, capitalism, socialism, democracy, European integration, etc.). We conceive Europe broadly, including not just European governments, agencies, and nations and regions within Europe, but also Europeans’ relations with the world, as well as organisations and associations within Europe, such as European business associations, trade conferences, professional organisations, and technical committees.
Paper topics might include, but are not restricted to, histories of:
- European futurology, futures studies, and other futures research – scenario planning, Delphi surveys, prognostik / prognostica
- Technoscientific futures – Foresight, technology assessment, innovation studies, etc.
- Business plans, forecasts, models, industrial strategy
- Macroeconomic modelling and forecasting in banking, finance, government, etc.
- Environmental predictions, climate modelling, sustainability goals
- Energy and resource forecasting
- Regional and urban planning and development
- Defence scenarios, simulations, and planning
- Infrastructure planning – media, telecommunications, electricity, transport, etc.
- Organisational planning – transnational agencies, business associations, etc.
- Colonial and decolonial planning and development
- Opinion polling, electoral polling, and market research
- “Anticipatory democracy” in Europe
This workshop is supported by the NWO-funded Veni project “The Prediction Machine” (PI Jacob Ward, Maastricht University).
Practical Information
We plan for a 1.5 day workshop, in person, at Maastricht University’s Brussels Hub on 5-6 June 2025. We welcome proposals from scholars of all ranks, including PhD students.
We seek to publish an edited volume or special issue based on the workshop papers, and so we will ask presenters to pre-circulate a short discussion paper (3,000-4,000 words) ahead of the workshop. The workshop will conclude with a roundtable to discuss publication plans.
Food and accommodation will be provided by the workshop organisers. There is limited funding available to support (partial) travel expenses, and early-career scholars and participants without access to institutional funding will be prioritised. We encourage participants to travel by train where possible.
Please send proposals to predict-europe-fasos@maastrichtuniversity.nl by Friday 17th January. Proposals should be a single PDF file that includes:
- An abstract of no more than 350 words
- An indication of whether travel support is needed and, if so, an estimate of costs
- A short CV (in a single PDF file).
We will notify submitters of the outcome of their proposal by Friday 31 January at the latest. For further information or practical questions, please contact the convenors, Jacob Ward and Aleksandra Komornicka, also at predict-europe-fasos@maastrichtuniversity.nl.
