Introduction to the special issue: Megatrends and grand challenges: The strategic organization of long-term and large-scale policy interventions

Abstract

This article advances a conceptual framework to understand how long-term and large-scale policy interventions can be strategically organized in response to contemporary grand challenges. It argues that today’s interconnected environmental, economic, technological, and geopolitical crises are rooted in megatrends—large-scale, persistent, and transformative forces reshaping social, political, and economic systems. Megatrends generate constellations of wicked problems characterized by complexity, uncertainty, and conflict among actors holding divergent values and interests. When these interconnected problems attain systemic relevance, they become grand challenges, whose resolution requires sustained collective action, interorganizational coordination, and long-term political commitment. To address these challenges, we propose a strategic organization perspective grounded in foresight, anticipatory governance, and participatory evidence-based policy-making. The article also introduces the contributions to the special issue and identifies four cross-cutting dimensions of strategic policy organization: robust policy and administrative capacities, activation and alignment of stakeholder networks, context-sensitive design, and the central role of politics.