Central minds of government under acute adversity

Abstract

"Acute Adversity," in the sense of longlasting situations of harsh difficulties of various types, faces an increasing number of countries. Therefore, its impacts on actual policymaking need investigation, which in turn requires broad historic-comparative studies. On the basis of such a study, a number of typical response patterns of Central Minds of Governments to acute adversity have been identified, including: different forms of reality denial; maze-policy-behavior, up to panic decisionmaking; escape into dogmas and policy orthodoxies; utopism and fanaticism; extreme pragmatism; legislative nominalism; administrative reform cycles; policy fashions; enemy seeking and surrogate alibis; lalms demanding; ideological-symbolic transformation, such as "ennoblement"; routinization; and, reatioely seldom, adequate policy invention. Most of these actual response patterns are counter-productive, posing the need for improved policymaking in the face of acute adversity. Reliable recommendations on better policymaking under acute adversity require deeper understanding of actual policy behavior of Central Minds of Governments under strong pressures and its causes. Therefore, this subject deserves more attention, both from scientific and applied perspectives.