Institutional Model of Regional Strategic Foresight in the Governance System of the Islamic Republic of Iran

Today, futures studies have begun their activities at the national level in the framework of some governmental institutions and some organizations have considered to develop strategic foresight and framework to improve their decision making and policy making processes and have done significant activities in this area. But regional strategic foresight has not yet played its theoretical and practical role in creating the future in the areas of governance in the Islamic Republic of Iran. This article attempts to review regional strategic foresight and its relationship with other concepts and processes and discusses the experiences of a leading country in the field of regional strategic foresight. Then, it develops an institutional model to establish the position of strategic regional foresight in the governance system of the Islamic Republic of Iran. This article is the result of a PhD thesis in futures studies that was written in 1395. According to the aim of this research, a mixed research method was chosen. In the first step, theoretical concepts were reviewed and developed. In the second step, a model was developed based on an interpretive structural modeling. The statistical population of this research consists experts in future studies and regional development, and the sampling method is target of sampling. Data gathering tool was interview and questionnaire and information obtained from experts was analyzed by Interpretative Structural Modeling Technique (ISM). Also, regional foresight practice is applicable by existing institutions in the governance system, but the proposed model requires other institutions that have not yet been established. The participation of various institutions plays a special role in improving the quality and comprehensiveness of strategic forecasting, as well as networking is one of the basic requirements for success of the model, also some of its collaborative institutions would be developing over time and would require network interaction.