The key difference between success and failure for most governance systems is adaptation, specifically the ability to resolve the existing social, cultural, economic and environmental challenges that constrain adaptation. Local, regional and national systems differ in how they are designed to organize effective participation and create innovative ideas for missions, goals, strategies and actions. They also differ in how they build the effective coalitions needed to adopt, guide and protect strategies and actions during implementation, and how to build competence and knowledge to sustain implementation.

This book presents the strategic foundations for government’s role in fostering and adapting to societal transformation in a volatile world. It shifts the focus of the discipline from an overtly retrospective analysis to a prospective analysis, incorporating the role of foresight techniques and instruments. Above all, it stimulates debate about the practical implications of governance as an emergent future-oriented framework of public management.

This challenging book aims to facilitate dialogue and discussion between academics and practitioners, and encourage advanced students to take a new perspective on Public Management during these volatile times.