Diplomație, prospectivă și dizidență în România anilor ’70-’80

Abstract

In 1972, Romania reached its zenith in future studies with the hosting of the Third World Future Research Conference in Bucharest. The event, held for the first time in a communist country, facilitated a historic convergence of futurists from capitalist, communist and Third World nations. However, despite the successful conference, the article explores how the political climate in Romania under the communist regime led to tensions between scientific exploration of future possibilities and the state’s preferred “single future”. Moreover, following the collapse of the communist regime, the discipline of futurism disappeared from the academic landscape in Romania. In the article's conclusion, Romania’s former prominence in future studies highlights both the potential of long-term planning and the challenges of political regimes resisting alternative futures. Establishing a Romanian diplomatic foresight center could offer new opportunities for integrating anticipatory thinking into global discussions, especially within the European Union.