Dr. Ann Mische is and Associate Professor of Sociology and Peace Studies, and a Faculty Fellow of the Kellogg Institute for International Affairs. Her work focuses on processes of communication, deliberation and leadership in social movements and democratic politics. She is currently conducting research for a second book, tentatively entitled, Futures in Contention: Public Scenarios and Transformative Politics in the Global Arena (under advance contract with the University of Chicago Press). The book examines how cultural technologies for future-oriented deliberation – including scenario planning, strategic foresight, and futures visioning – are being used in transnational debates and interventions related to democratic governance, social and economic inequality, political violence and environmental degradation. She focuses in particular on the use of participatory scenario methods by democratic reform actors in the Global South, as well as on their links to transnational networks of sponsors and partners. She is currently conducting collaborative research in Kenya on several historic scenario processes in East Africa since 2000. She will expand to other comparative case studies in Latin America and Southeast Asia in the coming year.