A Book Is Published. | Tomoki Kamo, Dean of the Faculty of Policy Management
2023.02.28
The five-volume series " Opening Up Policy Management " has finally been published. The volumes are " The Fluid World Order and Global Governance ," " Language, Culture, and Communication ," " Methods and Practices of Social Innovation ," " Public Policy and Changing Legal Systems ," and " Methodological Development of Policy Management ."
The publication of this series can be described as the result of a collaboration between the faculty and staff of the Shonan Fujisawa Campus (SFC) and the editorial staff of Keio University Press. I would like to celebrate the publication of this series with everyone involved in this "book project." I am truly delighted.
Readers who pick up this series will be able to learn about the current state of the academic field of Policy Management as it is developing at SFC.
Until now, the Faculty of Policy Management and SFC have centered their educational and research activities on considering "policies to open up the future." The academic discipline of Policy Management was born from the understanding of policy as "the choices and decisions humans make in order to take some form of action," and from the recognition that " human behavior constitutes society, and the science that analyzes that society cannot be established without being based on comprehensive judgment ." Its themes were human choice, decision, and execution.
And in the thirty years since the founding of SFC, we have defined Policy Management as " a discipline of practical knowledge " that seeks to accumulate knowledge through initiatives to practically solve the problems of real-world society—that is, policy problems.
We have also understood Policy Management as "something that should constantly question what its own form ought to be." This is concisely explained by the words, " As long as society continues to change, the insights of Policy Management are constantly becoming outdated and must be continually updated. As long as problems continue to arise in society without interruption, a fixed body of knowledge that one can simply learn and be done with is insufficient.pdf "
The society in which we live is now undergoing major fluctuations. The values and interests that society has shared are in flux, and the rules of the game, such as the norms and systems that society has understood, are wavering. Many of the assumptions that were previously taken for granted are changing. For example, we believed that liberal democracy, globalization, and the deepening of economic interdependence would guarantee peace and prosperity in the international community, but the reality of international society shows a different picture.
In the first place, social order is something that is always in flux. This is why many of the real-world problems we face are always skeptical of conventional solutions and constantly demand new ideas. Furthermore, the problems of real-world society do not manifest within specific academic fields. To derive effective decisions for solving problems, perspectives from multiple academic disciplines are necessary.
Based on this recognition, the Faculty of Policy Management has, for thirty years, maintained an academic stance of venturing into interdisciplinary fields to re-examine and solve problems comprehensively, while also being well-versed in individual cutting-edge academic areas. It can be said that the source of the appeal of SFC and the Faculty of Policy Management lies in this point.
At SFC, students can deeply pursue each of the academic fields covered in this series. At the same time, Policy Management has emphasized the necessity of "multiplying" multiple academic fields. What does "multiplying" mean? For example, it can be explained like this.
In Japanese society until now (to simplify the matter), it was common for people to continue walking toward the heights of a field based on the choice they made upon graduating from university. That is, it was taken for granted that one would choose one of the realms of business, public service, or academia, and thereafter deepen one's experience and knowledge within that realm.
However, in recent years, attention has been drawn to a different kind of career development: a career that moves freely back and forth between the realms of business, public service, and academia. The development of science and technology is promoting the rapid complication of the society in which we live. The problems facing real-world society demand expertise, yet they also call for individuals who are knowledgeable in different fields. This means that a constantly changing society has come to seek individuals who, while possessing expertise, also have the ability to move freely back and forth across the boundaries of their specializations.
Does this mean that the nature of expertise expected by society has changed? It is sometimes explained that, along with the conventional "addition" approach of digging deeper into one's specialization, a "multiplication" approach of building expertise across disciplines has also become necessary. It could be said that this series serves as a guidebook for deepening this "multiplication" expertise at the venue of SFC.
We believe that the publication of this series will be an important opportunity for the development of SFC. The environment surrounding our faculty, campus, and university is changing significantly. We are now at a stage where, based on our journey over the past 30 years, we are re-examining how we should develop over the next thirty years and are poised for a leap forward. For the faculty of SFC to consider the future direction of development from a higher perspective, it is essential to understand the current state of Policy Management. The publication of this series was an absolutely necessary endeavor for that purpose. Of course, this publication is merely a milestone in the developmental journey of Policy Management. Policy Management will continue to explore new possibilities for development. I would like to unveil the next development in the next "Okashira Nikki."
Postscript
The already published (as of February 28, 2023) "Methodological Development of Policy Management" and "Language, Culture, and Communication" have been well received, and it seems that stock is running low. Please hurry to a bookstore or access the web to purchase them.