The interplay between international relations and futures studies in the complexity context

The first section comparatively assesses the conceptual, methodological, and institutional tracks of International Relations (IR) and Futures Studies (FS) arguing that the interplay between the two disciplinary tracks presents itself as a case of original convergence, subsequent divergence, and again, a new potential convergence in the complexity context. The second section reviews a number of mainstream IR theories and models, mostly derived from the focus of IR as a discipline on the continuity-change, cooperation-conflict, and peace-war dynamics, that have some intrinsic predictive and thus potentially added value also for FS. The third section introduces the complexity analytical framework, emphasizing both the benefits and challenges of its applicability in FS and IR. The final section presents the main conclusions of the chapter and argues that being an open system as the systems it accounts for, the complexity analytical framework is liable to continue being developed, including through more sustained and mutually beneficial dialogue between IR and FS.