prefigurative

Prefigurative describes actions, structures, or practices that embody the future social, political, or economic arrangements that movements seek to create. In prefigurative politics, the means of organizing are thought to reflect the desired ends, so decision-making, leadership, and social relations within a movement are shaped to resemble the kind of society the participants want to bring about.

Origins and usage of the term lie in anarchist and libertarian socialist thought and have been applied within various strands of the New Left, feminist activism, and global justice movements. The concept is often invoked to argue that political change should be practiced in the here and now, not only promised for the distant future. It has been used to analyze and advocate for participatory democracy, horizontal organizing, and forms of mutual aid as both strategies and demonstrations of possibility.

Practices commonly associated with prefigurative politics include non-hierarchical or distributed leadership, consensus or participatory decision-making, open membership and transparency, direct democracy in organizational processes, and mutual aid networks. Proponents contend that these methods help build legitimacy, solidarity, and social relations that resemble the future they seek to realize, while also serving as practical experiments in alternative governance.

Critics note challenges in scaling prefigurative approaches to larger or more complex political contexts, potential conflicts with efficiency, and the risk of internal conflict or stagnation in the absence of conventional leadership structures. Supporters respond that such practices are essential to testing and sustaining egalitarian ideals and to ensuring that political aims are inseparable from the means used to achieve them.