Anticipatory expertise has become an indispensable core ingredient of contemporary attempts to govern complex problem. It has also become a field of contention, wherein a variety of technologies of knowledge production, social groups, and visions of the future coexist and compete. Indeed, the production of predictions and forecasts for public policy is not only an epistemic endeavour, but also an intrinsically contested and political activity. The special issue builds on ongoing scholarly discussions about anticipatory knowledge and its ‘performativity’ on policy and governance, to take a fresh look at the politics of anticipatory expertise.