Publication of the Series "Opening Up Policy Management" (5 Volumes)

2023/05/10

Image: Policy Management was born as a new academic field that seeks to step into interdisciplinary areas to solve problems by re-evaluating them comprehensively, while remaining well-versed in individual cutting-edge academic fields.

Questioning the current state of Policy Management. In the spring of 2023, the Faculty of Policy Management published the book series "Opening Up Policy Management." The series consists of five volumes: "Fluid World Order and Global Governance," "Language, Culture, and Communication," "Methods and Practices of Social Innovation," "Public Policy and Changing Legal Systems," and "Methodological Developments in Policy Management." All volumes in this series went into their second printing in April.

At the Shonan Fujisawa Campus (SFC), which develops academic disciplines to solve problems for a diverse and complex society by linking technology, science, design, and policy, the Faculty of Policy Management has placed the consideration of policies for navigating the future at the center of its education and research. Policy Management exists based on the recognition of policy as "the choices and decisions humans make to take some form of action" (Hiroshi Kato) and that "human behavior is society, and the science that analyzes that society must be based on comprehensive judgment" (Hiroshi Kato and Mazuru Nakamura). More than 30 years have passed since the academic field of Policy Management was born and the Faculty of Policy Management was established at SFC.

The society we live in is currently in a period of great flux. The values and interests shared by society are in flux, and the rules of the game, such as the norms and institutions accepted by society, are being shaken. Many of the assumptions previously taken for granted are changing. Globalization and deepening interdependence were once seen as guaranteeing peace and prosperity in the international community, but today's international community shows a different face. Liberal democracy was thought to be the default political system pursued by society and one that would not retreat, but the perception of a retreat of liberal democracy and the rise of authoritarianism is spreading. We understood that progress in information and communication technology would lead to the deepening of liberal democracy, but it has become clear that it also has aspects that contribute to the strengthening of authoritarianism.

Thus, after 30 years, we are recognizing once again that the interests and values we believed were shared by society are changing. Social order is fluid. Many social problems are constantly skeptical of conventional solutions and demand new ideas. To survive within a new order, an academic discipline is required that cultivates the ability to think about, decide on, and practice policy. This is because the seeds of a new order appear in the process of the existing order's retreat.

SFC defines Policy Management as a "science of practical wisdom" (Jiro Kokuryo) that seeks to accumulate knowledge through efforts to practically solve real-world social problems, namely policy issues. Therefore, Policy Management has been understood as something that must constantly question what its own ideal form should be. As Motohiro Tsuchiya stated, "As long as society continues to change, the findings of Policy Management are constantly becoming obsolete and must continue to be updated. As long as problems continue to be born incessantly in society, fixed knowledge that suggests 'learning this much is enough' is insufficient."

To begin with, the social problems we face do not appear within specific academic domains. To derive effective policy judgments for solving problems, perspectives from multiple academic fields are necessary. Each academic discipline has its own unique domain as a research subject. In contrast, Policy Management has a different character from existing disciplines. If we consider existing disciplines as "discipline-oriented," then Policy Management can be called an "issue-oriented" discipline. More accurately, while predicated on discipline-oriented academics, Policy Management is an issue-oriented discipline that includes within its scope the examination of the direction of social problem-solving and policy as a concrete means of solution, as well as the exploration of how that practice should be carried out.

This is why Policy Management is understood as a new academic field that seeks to step into interdisciplinary areas to solve problems by re-evaluating them comprehensively, while remaining well-versed in individual cutting-edge academic fields. Policy Management is attractive because it possesses a way of thinking that accurately captures fluctuations in order and changes in social problems, and seeks to construct a discipline that adapts to those changes.

For more than 30 years since its opening, SFC and the Faculty of Policy Management have repeatedly asked themselves what the ideal form of Policy Management should be. The most comprehensive effort to date was the series "The Cutting Edge of Policy Management" (4 volumes, edited by Tomoyuki Kojima, Mitsuaki Okabe, et al., Keio University Press, 2003), published on the 10th anniversary of the faculty's founding.

"Opening Up Policy Management" is an attempt to re-examine the state of the "science of practical wisdom" 20 years after "The Cutting Edge of Policy Management." The keywords presented in each volume of this series provide a map of the academic domains of Policy Management currently being developed at SFC. A "human" is depicted on the cover of each volume. This "human" represents Policy Management in the sense that "policy is the choices and decisions humans make to take some form of action" (Hiroshi Kato), and also represents Environmental and Information Studies, which has pursued a discipline for thinking about the future together, aiming to "cultivate human resources who can discover and solve problems themselves by learning about the relationship between humans, their environment, and the information that greatly affects them, and who will play a central role with a broad perspective in the future information society" (Hideo Aiso).

The academic domain of Policy Management has adapted to changes in social order, and its composition has changed. This is possible due to the flexibility of the SFC faculty, who have shared the common understanding since its founding that academic domains should be reorganized in response to change. In this way, SFC looks ahead to society 30 years from now and continues to open up Policy Management together with its students.