Beyond "Opening Up Policy Management" | Tomoki Kamo, Dean of the Faculty of Policy Management
2023.07.05
As dean, I often have the opportunity to explain our faculty. Each time, I am reminded of the words of a renowned international political scientist: "To write is to clarify one's own position, and thus to commit oneself." Every time I have the chance to speak about "What is policy management?" as part of my duties as dean, my understanding of the faculty becomes clearer and deeper.
What is policy management? Hiroshi Kato, the first dean, spoke as follows: "The Faculty of Policy Management is a faculty for thinking about policies to forge the future. When we hear the word 'policy,' we tend to think of national policies, but the term 'policy' here means the choices and decisions people make to take some form of action. There are government policies. There are decisions that companies must make. There are also choices within the international community." Dean Kato explained the Faculty of Policy Management as a "faculty for thinking about policy."
He went on to explain the meaning of "sogo" (comprehensive) in "sogo seisaku gaku" (policy management) as follows. His words were almost provocative, as if to incite the students. "Existing academic disciplines have given us knowledge, but unfortunately, they have not taught us how to act. This is because human choices and actions must be comprehensive, not partial, yet these disciplines were too analytical and siloed to allow for comprehensive judgment. That is why it was even said, in extreme terms, that a university education is useless once you enter society." As a student in the second entering class of the faculty, I vividly remember being genuinely stirred by these words. I feel that I established my own identity, driven by these words.
More than thirty years have passed since then. The Faculty of Policy Management is now faced with the need to explain its existence in richer terms.
What we are realizing is that the social order changes. Of course, this may have been true thirty years ago as well. This is likely why the academic field of policy management was born thirty years ago. Even in my own field of specialization, contemporary Chinese political studies, a period of thirty years strongly impresses upon me the magnitude of change.
"Change" refers to the flux of values and interests that were previously shared by society as a whole and taken for granted. This is precisely why many of the problems we face do not accept existing solutions and demand new ways of thinking. The academic pursuit of thinking about policy—that is, of envisioning the future—is constantly required to change. If the seeds of a new order emerge in the process of the old order receding, we must not underestimate the changes happening now.
Based on this understanding, the Faculty of Policy Management has promoted an academic approach that, while being well-versed in individual cutting-edge academic fields, re-examines them comprehensively and ventures into interdisciplinary areas. The appeal of policy management and SFC lies in their mindset of adapting to social change—or rather, of striving to walk ahead of it.
In March 2023, the Faculty of Policy Management published the book series "Opening Up Policy Management" (5 volumes) , presenting the current state of policy management more than thirty years after the faculty's founding. By comparing this series with the four volumes of "The Forefront of Policy Management" , published on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of our founding, it is also possible to trace the trajectory of change in policy management over twenty years.
We now see policy management as an "academic field of practical wisdom" that seeks to accumulate knowledge through practical initiatives in the face of fluid and complex social problems—that is, policy issues.
Where does the form of this "academic field of practical wisdom" appear? It is developed in the various essays of the book series "Opening Up Policy Management," but we are now trying to find its form in one particular area. Therein lies the starting point for the next development of policy management. I would like to discuss this in detail in future installments of the "Okashira Nikki" (Dean's Diary).