Utopian Imagination as a Method for Deliberative Policy Analysis

In policy making, a sure way to dismiss a proposal or stance is to call it ‘utopian’. Also in contemporary policy analysis, utopian thinking has a low status. It is either regarded as mere fantasy, useless and distracting from the ‘real’ practical work of politics – or it is thought of as dangerous, fueling the drive for conformity and purity in totalitarian regimes. Against this backdrop, this paper draws attention to the fact that utopian thinking has been an important method in the social sciences. Specifically, we present systematic utopian analysis as a method of deliberative policy analysis. Utopian analysis is called for, we argue, in situations that are widely regarded as dysfunctional and stuck in an ideological or interest-driven stagnation. Drawing on the work of Ruth Levitas, we distinguish three functions of a methodical application of utopian thinking: 1) As a History of the Present, a critical tool to show the limitations of current political, social and economic discourse. 2) As Social Philosophy, the articulation our conceptions of human needs, human nature, and human flourishing in those possible features, and 3) As Institutional Design, a form of holistic thinking about possible futures, including the democratic engagement with the principles and practices of those futures. Using the democratisation of finance and the governance of digital technologies as examples, we will illustrate the practical steps involved in the three functions of systematic utopian analysis and the value this adds to policy analysis.