The future as developmental construct in the work of Harold Lasswell

This review commentary offers reflections on some of the key themes of Douglas Torgerson’s refreshing, perceptive and timely study of the work of Harold Lasswell, The Policy Sciences of Harold Lasswell: Contextual Orientation and the Critical Dimension. The commentary attempts to connect those themes to our present with the aim of making a very small contribution to the work demanded by the challenge posed by Torgerson in the final pages of his book – the pursuit of a ‘strategic developmental construct’ inspired by ‘the critical agenda’. To that end, the commentary examines ideas of the future instantiated in the recent United Nations ‘Summit of the Future’, and concludes by reflecting on possible political risks posed by different styles of hermeneutic method.