Intergenerational Foresight 2026

Across Europe and Eurasia, governance systems face a growing paradox. Institutions are increasingly active, intervening to secure economic stability, technological leadership, and geopolitical autonomy. Yet despite this intensity of action, many societies feel their future options are narrowing. Choices made today seem to lock in pathways that are difficult to reverse, while the capacity of future generations to shape their own trajectories quietly diminishes. This tension is not primarily a failure of intent. Many policies use the language of sustainability, resilience, and strategic autonomy. The real challenge lies in how governance defines success. Measuring effectiveness through immediate control, delivery, or optimization often sacrifices long-term agency without explicit recognition. The consequences emerge slowly, through constrained options, accumulated dependencies, and declining trust in institutions perceived as prioritizing the present over the future. This perspective redefines good governance in terms of temporal sovereignty: the capacity of societies to preserve freedom of choice across generations. Its core is to ensure that today’s decisions expand or narrow the range of feasible futures available tomorrow.What if good governance were defined and measured by the temporal sovereignty it promotes and the collective agency it preserves across generations? Europe and Eurasia A Intergenerational Foresight: An Approach for Long-Term Responsibility in Governance 11