Governing for the future [electronic resource] : designing democratic institutions for a better tomorrow / Jonathan Boston.

Includes index.

Includes bibliographical references.

Intertemporal policy-making in advanced democracies: the risk of a presentist bias -- The presentist bias: conceptualizing and assessing the problem -- Probing the causes of the presentist bias -- The policy dimensions of the presentist bias -- Foundations for prudent long-term governance -- Countering the presentist bias: surveying the options -- A constitution for the future -- Committing to a better future - the nature, design, and limits of commitment devices -- Insulating decision-making from short-term political pressures -- Enhancing voices for the future - the role of independent institutional advocates and guardians -- Advising for a better future - evidence, metrics, frameworks, and institutions -- Designing and embedding a strategic foresight capability -- Creating the political conditions for policy investments: enhancing trust, shared goals, and patience -- Towards a better tomorrow - enhancing the capacity of advanced democracies to navigate, shape, and protect the future.

This book is about governing well for the future. It investigates the nature of, and the conditions for, prudent long-term democratic governance in a dynamic, complex, and uncertain world, the reasons why such governance is politically challenging, and how such challenges can best be tackled. In particular, it addresses the problem of 'short-termism' or a 'presentist bias' in policy-making; that is, the risk of governments placing undue weight on near-term considerations at the expense of a society's overall long-term welfare. As such, the book traverses both normative and empirical issues. The approach is primarily qualitative rather than quantitative.

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