131 Opening up or closing down anticipatory governance 5 when there are also many processes and practices that have been designed specifically to provide openings for reflexive and critical dialogue about what and whose futures to engage with (Bennett et al., 2016; Bellamy et al., 2013). Technocratic and predictionoriented anticipation processes close down dialogues, which may have material impacts in terms of action, insofar as they may act on some futures rather than on alternative (and more desirable) futures (Paprocki, 2019). In this article we investigate how conceptions of the future in influential anticipation processes impact governance actions in various regional sustainability contexts of the Global South. Do they provide openings for more inclusive and reflexive action, or are these processes closed down by incumbent interests and dominant framings of what is considered relevant and credible knowledge and viable present-day actions? In earlier work, some of us have developed an analytical framework that provides a lens through which to examine assumptions about the future and their steering effects in the present (Muiderman et al., 2020). In this article, we connect this framework to the notion of opening up/closing down (Stirling, 2008) to empirically examine the dynamics of anticipatory governance in diverse regions of the Global South. We argue that this question is particularly urgent in developing countries since futures work is seen to be largely based on Global North ideas, methods, research and technologies (Escobar, 2020). While a critical research agenda on anticipatory governance is now emerging most research has focused on the Global North (Biermann & Möller, 2019; Vervoort & Gupta, 2018). This clashes with the fact that many parts of the Global South are particularly vulnerable to challenges such as climate change (Adger & Vincent, 2005; Okereke, 2018) and climate governance actions should fit local and national contexts (Derbile et al., 2016). Here we present a multi-regional case study in which we qualitatively analyze several anticipation processes through investigating written and spoken statements in policy documents, process reports, interviews, and focus group discussions. Building on these regional analyses, this paper provides novel insights into anticipatory climate governance in diverse contexts of the Global South, a crucial gap in the literature. 5.2. Opening up or closing down anticipatory governance: frames of the future and possibilities for action? 5.2.1. Anticipation and anticipatory governance The notion of anticipatory governance captures the challenge of how uncertain futures can be imagined and governed in the present (Boyd et al., 2015; Muiderman et al., 2020; Vervoort &Gupta, 2018). Anticipatory governance as a concept was developed in the context
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