Including Future Generations as Political Stakeholders in Democratic Institutions and Processes

Final presentation by Moritz von Knebel as part of the 2022 CERI Summer Research Fellowship. Elections are part of a complex set of factors which turn the space of Politics into a uniquely short-term endeavour, or as Warren Buffet put it more succinctly: “And when human politicians choose between the next election and the next generation, it’s clear what usually happens.” At the same time, elections are a crucial part of our democratic system that presents a unique opportunity to encourage longterm thinking by including future generations and their preferences. For a long time, future generations lacked representation entirely. More recently, efforts to include them in the political decision-making process can be observed, although the extent to which these measures are shaping actual policy greatly differ from context to context. My research project attempts to map out the space of Future Generations Inclusion in different political systems by comparing them across countries, generating a “heat map” of progress on this issues, which will help inform policy makers on the opportunities embedded within these changes by highlighting best-practice examples and recent successes.