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Social Sciences and Governance

1. This symposium was meant to be the first of a series of meetings and publications on the overall topic of "Social Sciences and Governance", which is a long-term concern of UNESCO's "Management of Social Transformations" (MOST) Programme, as well as of the Institute of World Systems, Economies and Strategic Research. 2. The need of the modern state for a more accurate socio-economic and political knowledge-base for policy-making and decision processes manifested itself at the end of the 18th century. The enlightened philosophers were talking about "social physics". In the later periods, the range of users became more varied beyond the State itself: IGOs and NGOs, political parties, industry, banks, professional organizations, trade unions, social movements (e.g. ecologists), the media, etc. Social sciences were historically constructed as one of the major forms of scientific knowledge, and divided into a specific set of disciplines, through the 19th and the first half of the 20th centuries. The current pattern of this scientific division of labour was established in the immediate aftermath of World War II. The social sciences are not only divided along disciplinary lines, but also extremely fragmented, through debates (e.g. hermeneutic vs empirical/positivistic approaches), which cut across disciplines. Such fragmentations arise from certain important issues. Social sciences are off-spring of an essential characteristic of modernity, i.e. the postulate that human societies can master the universe, achieve continuous progress and generate social and political transformations, instead of accepting the postulate of a natural order of social life. Hence, from the beginning, there was an element of practical instrumentality and utilitarianism in the social sciences. The hard-nosed positivists claimed the feasibility of social engineering. Others (e.g. the interpretative and the "verstehen" schools) were not convinced by the notion of the pratical utility of social sciences in the governance of societies. The relations between the producers and users of social science have been, are and perhaps will remain an "uneasy partnership". This is particularly the case of the relations with governments, but also with some other users. Such tensions in the linkages between the producers and users of social sciences can be analyzed from the point of view of the sociology of knowledge and that of social science methodologies. There is a considerable theoretical and empirical literature written from the first perspective. Let us mention here three sets of theories, trying to explain the problems involved in research-policy-making relations: - Knowledge-specific theories which elaborate on the nature of social science information: the dominance of disciplinary approaches, and the descriptive character of much research, which fail to provide a necessary action framework. - Two-communities theories: a gap of mutual confidence between producers and users of social sciences, which is cultural or "value-defined", involving an ends-means debate. - Policy-maker's constraints theories: the approaches, needs and time-frame of users are very different from those of the researchers. The second point of view concerns the role of research methodologies and tools. It is, in fact, partly related to the above-mentioned knowledge specific theories. The topic of this symposium focused primarily on such methodological issues (see §3 below). However, the sociology of knowledge approach was also considered, for methodological issues cannot be isolated from other dimensions. 3. Methodological Issues Compared to physcial sciences, social sciences are more stochastic and of a chaotic structure in mathematical terms. They lack, to a large extent, experimental and laboratory research. "Model" studies carry some degree of significance, insofar as they reflect "the real world". The economic structure, history, culture, civilization and geostrategic position of a country are determinant factors in the setting of goals. The process of analysing problems, evaluating strategies and formulating policies evolves around these factors. The scope of scientific research should cover, with an interdisciplinary approach, the conditions under which decision makers operate, their backgrounds, methods they utilize in problem solving, decision making and implementation that involve numerous variables. Mathematics, engineering, medicine, biology, strategy evaluation, economics, history, sociology, politics, human mentality and behaviour and esthetics all occupy a place in this chaotic and complex process. The unavoidable task in the decision making process and in determining the observable reality is the use of an interdisciplinary approach in viewing the operation of the system as a whole, defining the significant variables within the system, and evaluating and quantifying them within the whole. With the advent of the information age, tremendous amounts of highly disaggregated information flows have had an increased influence over the social sciences both theoretically and empirically, as well as over the decision making structures. This necessitates a reexamination of the existing theories in social sciences and quantification techniques in order to reflect the world's realities. Dr. Ali KAZANCIGIL Director, Division of Social Sciences, Research and Policy Executive Secretary, MOST Programme Orhan GÜVENEN Professor of Econometrics Director, Institute of World Systems, Economies and Strategic Research SOCIAL SCIENCES AND GOVERNANCE Symposium on Methodological Issues, Quantification Techniques, Decision-Making and Governance in Social Sciences Bilkent University, Ankara 8-9 December 1995 Programme Session I: Quantification and Methodology in Social Sciences Sir David Cox, Nuffield College, Oxford University Session II: Proposals on Theoretical and Quantitative-Qualitative methodologies in Decision-Making Processes Lawrence R. Klein, University of Pennsylvania Session III: Methodological Issues and Quantification Technics in Physical Sciences and its Impact on Social Sciences Tosun TerzioŠlu, Middle East Technical University and TÜBITAK Session IV: Theoretical Issues: Social Science Theories Revisited Tuncer Bulutay, Professor of Econometrics Session V: Continuity and Evolution in Social Sciences Bozkurt Güvenç, Hacettepe University Session VI: The Interaction within Chaotic, Complex and Highly Stochastic Structures and the Linkage Between Set and Subject Structure: The Case of Social Sciences Orhan Güvenen, Bilkent University Session VII: Science, Policy-Making and Governance: An Introductory Discussion Ali Kazancigil, UNESCO Session VIII: Bayesian Regulation Mechanism: Corrortion and Learning Semih Koray, Bilkent University Session IX: Budgetary Decision-Making, The Principal Agent Approach Izak Atiyas, Bilkent University and World Bank, and ßerif Sayin, Bilkent University Session X: Enterprise Integration, Organizational Informatics and Decision-Making Ruth Anderson, George Mason University Thomas R. Gulledge, George Mason University Rainer Sommer, George Mason University Murat Tarimcilar, Suffolk University Session XI: The Themes of Future Symposia Panel Discussion: Interaction Between Social Sciences Statistical Infrastructures and Information Systems in Facing Global Social, Economic and Political Challenges and Governance

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