George Soros Talks Reflexivity with SPP Students

George Soros visited SPP on October 9 giving students a chance to talk with the School's founder about his philosophy.

The fascinating and productive discussion moderated by Leonard Benardo, Associate Director of the Open Society Foundations, kicked off with a short presentation from each SPP student on his or her background, passions, interests and motivation for joining the school. A strong dedication to working for the public sector, activism, and a will to engage in policy building and practical learning were the common denominators of the students' introductions.

We got a chance to sit in with Soros on a vast array of subjects: from his most recent conceptual work to the specifics of the European and US financial crises, the politics of China, and global drug policies.

SPP faculty and students received a head note on the principles of reflexivity, fallibility and human uncertainty, tracking back from Soros' early work and the influence of his mentor, the philosopher Karl Popper, to a more applied approach of these principles in his philanthropy and investments.

We received a lesson on "reflexivity put to work" when he told us about the nonprofit funding strategies he used in Central and Eastern Europe in the '80s and '90s.
Among other questions, he was asked his views on the implications for policy practitioners in the context of the imperfect knowledge he describes. He argued that governments are even more dominated by imperfections in comparison to markets because politicians and bureaucrats have the tendency to protect themselves from failure and all too often deny reflexivity. Instead of anticipating, they can get caught in following and causing the events. This is just one more reason why there is a stringent need for policy makers to develop as risk takers and as social and political entrepreneurs.

Answering a question regarding the implementation of his theories of fallibility and reflexivity in his own experiences, Soros emphasized that an understanding of false decisions and reflection on decisions made in the past is critical. It is very important for policy makers to reflect on their past decisions in order to improve future decision making. A lack of reflection on false decisions in the policy sector has created an overall negative trend in achieving public policy goals.

Written by Roxana Damiana and Bashir Ahmed, MPA Students at SPP.