"Instrumental rationality," understood as the studies and techniques that support the rational/ economic planning of society, have their place: they guide, to a good and honest degree, the implementation of public policy; and, rightfully so. Particularly in the realm of local economic development, the evaluative promptings of instrumental rationality reveal, in general, the feasibility or desireability of given projects. A line must be drawn, however.
While instrumental rationality rightfully guides the implementation of development policy, this mode of rationality differs significantly from that which rightfully guides its formulation. In our society, the basic principles of democracy (i.e., participation, accountability, representativeness) have been given dominion over the formulation of all public policies. This dominion establishes the very basis of our Constitution, and indeed it was through the use of democratic processes that the U.S. Constitution came into being.
While we may use rational/ economic studies and techniques of the highest sophistication we have inherited, and presumably still operate within, a specific political culture. We are, after all, an avowed democratic nation, one which references a specific legal/ institutional framework, with accompanying "political requirements" (i.e., which serve to ensure democracy), whose continued legitimacy rests in our hands. By fashioning public policies in the image of this inheritance, mindful of its promise, we ensure its lasting legitimacy. By allowing our policies to assume, by default, an image that bears no resemblance to our inheritance, we needlessly disrupt a fragile political balance which, once disturbed, may not so easily return, if at all.
Author: Steven A. Maclin, Ph. D.
About the Author: Dr. Maclin has been a university professor since 1994, but from 1998 - 2004, he lived and worked with American military troops in Japan, Okinawa, and South Korea. He has previously edited and published dozens of articles in professional administrative journals and recently, in his ‘spare time,’ he’s been building websites for distributing materials to his graduate students. Hes now stateside, teaching graduate students online, writing articles and developing a small online business (see
http://buyfromart.com); he can be reached at info@buyfromart.com.