The Future as a Democratic Resource

Beliefs about the future shape attitudes, experiences, and priorities in the present. This lecture explores the relationship between democracy and the expected world to come. As it argues, visions of the future are an important resource for democratic politics, as a way to put the present in critical perspective, to aid in the formation of a collective agent, and to consolidate commitment in adversity. Indirectly, they contribute also to the legitimacy of democratic institutions, shaping the exercise of citizenship and the capacity to contend with the flaws of representation. The democratic significance of the imagined future becomes all the more visible in today’s age of skepticism towards future-regarding politics, where speculative modes of thinking run up against the desire for certainty and precision.

Suggestions for preparatory reading

Jonathan White. Forthcoming. “The Future as a Democratic Resource.” Perspectives on Politics.
Jonathan White. 2024. In the Long Run: The Future as a Political Idea. London: Profile.

Jonathan White is Professor of Politics and Deputy Head of the European Institute at the LSE, where he researches and teaches on democracy, political thought, and political theory. He has held visiting positions at Harvard, Stanford, Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin, Humboldt University, Hertie School, Sciences Po in Paris, and the Australian National University. His books include In the Long Run: The Future as a Political Idea (Profile 2024), Politics of Last Resort: Governing by Emergency in the European Union (OUP 2019), and The Meaning of Partisanship (with Lea Ypi, OUP 2016). Jonathan White's research interests lie in the fields of political sociology and political theory, with a focus on European democracy.