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On The Study Of Yehezkel Dror’s Policy Thoughts

Posted on:2013-11-19Degree:DoctorType:Dissertation
Country:ChinaCandidate:H ZhouFull Text:PDF
GTID:1226330395470232Subject:Political Theory
Abstract/Summary:PDF Full Text Request
Modern Policy Sciences is the product of the western world. Since its birth it has been closely related with Yehezkel Dror who is from Israel. Yehezkel Dror is "the second generation policy scientist" after Harold Lasswell and hailed as a "leading authority" in the field of policy sciences, the founder of policy sciences. However, the comprehensive analysis of Dror’s policy thoughts among Chinese scholars is so rare, as a result from the fact that "he is more of an administrative or systems experts than a politician" While the history of public administration is but for120years or so. Some argues that Dror’s thoughts is super-knowledge. His articles are obscure and very hard to understand. In fact, Dror’s academic character is very distinctive. He likes to use the word "ruler" to mean the governor in modern democracy, and he heartlessly criticizes and rejects the concept of "sustainable development" which we hold truly. He believes that it inhibit the advancement of our humanity and should not limit our human within the mental cage of "sustainable development".Dror concerns the critical choice in the crossroad, and emphasizes the deliberate thinking, feeling and dreaming the "alternative future". He claims that the ruler should overcome the "the tyranny of status quo", and believes that fuzzy gamble with history is desirable though unpleasant. The kernel of Dror’s thoughts is "power-concentrated", and "meritocracy" which draw us back in Plato times and we seem to feel the dead soul of Plato in his thoughts. Dror requires the rulers to have the capabilities and will to resolutely weave the future, take delight in learning and change minds in the rapidly changing world, and break the old paradigm, instead of being subject to the change of the mass mood and the short election period, constantly shutting from many kinds of spin-doctoring.Dror initiates " the revolution of policy sciences". He puts forth the new paradigm of policy sciences and recognizes the danger of "technocracy","meritocracy" and "technopolis". He argues the paradigm innovation of policy sciences, and identifies the implication of policy sciences to politics. He calls for the new relationship between knowledge and power, and guard against the risk of sciences being abused morally.Dror cares improving the Central Minds of government, which was taken as a black box, and now he wants to remove the barrier to previous academic studies and mainly discuss the policymaking in the high-level government. Dror sees the conflict between the increasing policy demands and the inherent capacities of government. He takes the adversity as an inherent, dynamic and interactive social process, and he advocates examining the adversity from two aspects, that is, endogenous and exogenous of rulings. He attributes the major weakness of policymaking to the gap between the incapacities of human when facing uncertainties and the fuzzy gambling decisions. He designs a set of operative concepts, categories and methodologies to overcome the adversity.The situation of humanity in the face of global transformations can be summarized in two sentences:Societies are unprepared; Governance is unequipped. Our epoch is distinguished by unusually rapid non-liner change which challenged the choices shaping our future. Our humanity and states are no longer face a certain crossroad, and the trajectory into the future is deeply influenced by government performance or non-performance. The choices can not be made by any other social mechanism. Current governance is not equipped with weaving the good future. Therefore, radical governance redesign is a deterministic necessity to improve the governance capacity and influence the future in the desired direction.Adviser is the mirror of the policy. Rulers and advisers belong to the ur-core-components of human governance, as developed some5,000years ago or perhaps earlier. Key features of relations between rulers and advisers have not changed very much during that period. This is a rigid relationship with limited plasticity. The limited variety of contemporary arrangements for advising heads of governments, the instability of such advisory relations and the serious difficulties faced by all presently known options for structuring advisory supports for top decision-makers, further reinforce the conjecture that structural weaknesses are inherent in advisory relations with rulers. Ruler-adviser relations can serve as a paradigmatic illustration of fundamental reasons for incapacity to govern, which are congenital to institutions of governance as human artifacts in their present phase of evolution. Dror reveals that the limits of rulers and their various interactive relationships between rulers and advisers including what kind of role and function the modern advisers can play in improving the qualities of top decision-makers, which dilemma and conflict the modern advisers faced in advising the rulers, the way the advising systems redesign. Dror gives us many prescriptions with his judgment and thinking in action as an international adviser in many countries and international organizations. Therefore, his sight is professional and worldwide.Dror realizes the necessities of visionary leadership in the21st Quantum age when government is undergoing the structural adjustment and creative destruction. Because of the least understanding of the social needs reflected in the minimum state theory and neoliberalism on the concept of state, it is more essential to make the visionary leadership worth studying considering the ruler plays a very important role in the value change, political motivation, establishing the social identity and alleviating the mass psychological trauma.Dror concentrates on the statecrafts and he loves China. He likes to quote The Analects of Confucius. His policy thoughts are varied and abundant which worth our devotion to study.The key points of the article are as follows:The preface is to introduce the background and significance of the research. To overview the research situations home and abroad on Dror’s policy thoughts. To ascertain the methods, scope, main contents of the research, and attempt to break through in the research.Chapter1is to clarify the route that the Dror’s policy thoughts developed from the historical perspective combined with the international background in which policy sciences developed, and it is convenient for us to grasp his thoughts in the larger sense.Chapter2to Chapter5is a comprehensive introduction of Dror’s policy thoughts. First, to know of the background of the emergence of policy sciences, the barrier to policy sciences, the new paradigm of policy sciences and the implication of policy sciences from the revolution of policy sciences based on "Design of Policy Sciences". Second, to present Dror’s thoughts of policymaking based on "Public Policymaking Reexamined" and "Policymaking under Adversity" which include Dror’s Optimal Model and methodology of policymaking under adversity. Third, to recommend Dror’s governance theory on the basis of "The Capacity to Govern:A Report to the Club of Rome" consisting of the cause of redesign of governance, the opportunities and challenge facing governance, the obstacles of political cultures, the requirements of reshaping of governance, a ’Feature Model’ of high-quality governance, the resolution of governance which include approaches to redesign, fostering raison d’humanite, virtues against vices, empowering the people with public affairs enlightenment, on rulership, deepening policy reflections, qualifying in ’fuzzy-gambling’, improving the central minds of government, restructuring governance architecture, governing private power, making global governance more resolute, augmenting oversight, gearing governance for crises, and strengthening the autonomy of high-quality government. Since this part is the main body of the article, and the introduction in domestic research is little, then the article attempts to present the ideas at length. Fourth, to bring in Dror’s leadership theories in accordance with "visionary political leadership" and "The New Ruler:Leadership for the21st Century " and plus with some articles of Dror’s and put forth the necessities of establishing the theory of visionary leadership.Chapter6mainly digs the most distinctive policy thoughts, including fuzzy-gambling thoughts, policy advisers theories, grand policy thoughts and Dror’s rejection of "sustainable development". Considering the foregoing introduction of governance theories, there is no need to give more details although it is one of the unique part of Dror’s policy thoughts. Then this part analyses the resources that Dror’s thoughts derived from, including someone who greatly influenced his policy thoughts, the impact of his Jewish descent and Israeli politics on his policy thoughts, and his rich experiences as policy adviser in various countries and international organizations. Next, to make some comments on Dror’s policy thoughts involving his prescriptive methodologies of policy sciences, the symbiotic relationship between knowledge and power, elitism governance and democracy, Dror’s view on future, comparative and historical methods etc. It is not so much remarks on Dror’s policy thoughts as responses to the former remarks on Dror’s some books and articles.Chapter7mainly explores the values of Dror’s policy thoughts to China today. To explain the application of Dror’s policy thoughts to China from the perspectives of disciplinary development, policy predicaments, and governance. From the disciplinary development, Dror’s policy thoughts give us important enlightenment in the teaching and research, institutional policy sciences and the further breakthrough of development of policy sciences. As to the policy predicaments, Dror’s adversity view is a forceful attack on "Government Failure Theory" and provides us a more rational thinking for understanding the adversity. From the perspective of governance, we can get fresh and new ideas on governance in the mental traits, bodies, contents, levels and the relations with politics and democracy in the21st century. In the end, the articles provides Dror’s advice on the dilemma and problems facing our China government.
Keywords/Search Tags:Yehezkel Dror, governance, policymaking, adversity, grand policy
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