Summary/Abstract
This paper aims to describe and apply “anticipatory governance,” which refers most directly to building the capacity to manage emerging technologies while such management is still possible, to geoengineering technologies and techniques. The paper explicates a rationale for anticipatory governance and its three conditions: foresight, engagement, and integration. The paper tests its use as an evaluative tool for discursive and governance processes by investigating five early reports on geoengineering – including geoengineering’s own Asilomar meeting. The analysis offers evidence that elements of anticipatory governance are in practice and that we may, in fact, be doing better than we have done recently with nano- technology or with genomics; however, work remains to be done to clarify and specify the conditions for practicing anticipatory governance well enough to realize the ideals of deliberative democracy to reflect the values and capabilities of pluralistic societies.