Using Grand Strategy Theory to Make A Local Scale Policy

 

 

For many years, the policy making theory has expanded and evolved through the dynamic world condition to make the best possible order for society and making sure that the government obligation are runs to conduct nation welfare.

For sure, the notion of public policy and strategy became legitimate agenda among the scholars for many years. Many public administrations school are established all over countries, researching, and formulating the best, effective and pointed policy so that the government can immediately implement it.

Public policy study is always an interesting issues or topics. Many of us are “so called expert as a comment professor but lack in substance or even any solutions. They (in this case, including me) addressing an issue in surface, never have an eagerness to explore deeper and comprehensive, then making an opinion in subjective ways. The toxic situation, but its reasonable.

Here, I try to make a deal breaker, at least in my shallow and subjective perspective. In this case, I am dragging the issue into a condition of “how should the policy and or strategy best drafted.

If you noticed or ever read, I uploaded Grand Strategy Making Process opinion onto my blog (pikirangga.blogspot.com). formerly, it was part of my postgraduate final assignment majoring in international relation specialized for terrorism in international security (scrolling it down among my articles in my blog).

In terms of grand strategy making process, we can compress it in local scale situation to make the more effective and less rejecting form for the society. First, what is public policy about? Public policy is a method of formulating regulation and or strategy that address the needs citizens combining the government goals considering the dynamic situation. It requires at least the skill on how to define exactly what is the citizen’s needs, exploring of all the possibilities solution and facing any challenges through the implementation. In a doctor’s perspective, it’s like diagnose procedure to determine the sickness and decide the best cure or medicine.

So, can the grand strategy making theory be used to make a public policy and or strategy in local perspective? The local phrase in this discussion refer to a small-scale region or even organization.

In my opinion, the small-scale region and organization with its small numbers of inhabitants is an advantage and opportunity to make sure the policy or strategy is on point and less rejected by the citizens.

A grand strategy making theory is well known in war situation, in foreign policy or international relation. Liddell Hart, defined its role as a way to coordinate and direct all the resources of a nation, or band of nations toward the attainment of the political object of war.

Strategy comes from Greek’s notion that is “the art of general” or the art that is used for leaders in the context of war. In general definition, strategy is a way gaining the victory or achieving the goals. While a grand strategy can be defined as a strategy consist of military and non-military as an effort to achieve the objective of war (Making Strategy: An Introduction to National Security Processes and Problems / by Dennis M.Drew, DonaldM. Snow).  Which grand strategy among the others is selected depend on the age of the country and its leaders.

Modern grand strategy making process consist of at least five elements, that is: determining the goals, formulating grand strategy, developing strategy, designing operational strategy, and formulating tactics. According to Carl Von Clausewitz, there are several factor numbers that influence strategy making process (Carl von Clausewitz, On War, ed. and trans., Michael N.J.: Princeton University Press): Clausewitz Trio, foreign and domestic politics, economics, and technology. Clausewitz Trio in terms of security cooperation is how much information being collected about the region or area condition and situation that become implementation strategy object, to minimize the obscurity of information and friction, increase the opportunities while implementing the strategy. In this case, the information is about the domestic politics. The economics situation in other hand, has a big impact on the strategy formulation process. The rapid development of science in the world, can be used to increase excellence and opportunity to win the strategy. This making technology an important thing that is also considered in formulating strategy.  

Simple Analysis Model:

In local situation, this strategy making process methods can be arrange and modified according to the situation and goals that being expected by the citizens (in terms of region) or the organization members.

We can consider that Clausewitz Trio will define as how much information, internal and externals are gathered in order to enrich any aspect and factors that could become strenght, weakness, opportunity and threat formulating the policy and or strategy. This mean that the informant should have an ability to grab as much as it can any information significant, conducting the strategy that become a solution. In case those information become vogue, it”ll be affecting the effectiveness and fruitfulness of apolicy.

Second, policy maker should consider the foreign and domestics politics, this include any policy similar and or in another spectrum approved solving the issue. This mean that policy maker cannot ignore or deny any situation around the region and inside condition the sickness should be cured.

Economics, nevertheless, playing much important rule either in formulating and implementing the policy or strategy deployed. It restrain the capital needed to run the policy and or strategy. Without any capital, those strategy is just another pseudo dream or misspercieved. Capital, in another way, as an energy to mobilize the resources that they have.

Last but not least, technology exist and developed as a means to facilitate progress and ease of human life. This advance insfrastructure must used optimally to facilitate the working “machine” while also binding those activities into a system that minimize errors and control the resources neededby and deployed.

All those aspect and factors should be collected then generate the best policy and strategy, hopefully expected to be operationally understood and implemented. Thus, the policy produced and implemented can be the best medicine curing the problem but still be able to answer the citizens needs.