This historical initiative has been closely associated with the early development of the international futures research movement, notably the World Futures Studies Federation. It was instigated by James Wellesley-Wesley. From 1972 it engaged in a strategic initiative, effectively a Union of Intelligible Associations, in partnership with the Union of International Associations. This partnership gave rise to a succession of editions of the Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential (and its current online variant). From this initiative subsequently emerged the Union of Imaginable Associations and three other complementary bodies.