Politics Administration Dichotomy Wood Wilson's politics administration dichotomy states the idea that administrative decisions need to be made without the influence of politics. Since the beginning, there have been arguments on the connection between politics and administration.
It is and continues to be a constant and ever growing debate of the powers of the developing countries. Woodrow Wilson's essay detailing the study of administration has been viewed as the beginning of public administration as a field of study.He sought to investigate organization and the methods governments use to successfully accomplish its tasks with the most efficiency at the least possible cost. In his essay he suggested the existence of main difference between politics and administration.
It was this difference that became known as the politics-administration dichotomy. Politics being the expression of the will of the state and administration being the execution of that will.Wilson’s theory has proven to be practical and very workable as the United States began changing from a rural agricultural society to an industrial nation. With these changes there were more requirements and a considerable response from the citizens for more public administrations functions and programs to be established. Public administration changed in the United States after WWI, as the population increased so did the need for public works, public health, and public safety. Public administration as an action was booming during this time and still is today.
At the Minnowbrook Conference of 1968 young academic students would argue for fresh ideas to be implemented when building a new public administration. They wanted one built on mutual trust and love of mankind and showed opposition to the traditional ways public administration worked. While Professor Vincent Ostrom debated the effectiveness of Wilson theory by labeling it as “single-centered administration”, authors like Dahl saw the system as dated and failing in accurately dealing with postwar administrative priorities.Professor Ostrom sought to enhance public choice and labeled public administration as old-fashioned.
In the early 1990’s authors David Osborne and Ted Gaubler would also write a best seller that challenged the old style bureaucracy by suggesting public administration build a more entrepreneurial attitude. Although, Wilson’s essay and views on politics and administration has been met with many a debate about everything from its effectiveness to its definition, the basics of his ideals still hold true and are the foundation for our public administrations system today.The advantages of public administration lie in the many benefits to the general public and the system governing the country. Without it organizations like fire departments, police and postal wouldn’t have been deemed necessary and created for the betterment of society and the country. A major disadvantage of this field is the many different areas it covers. This makes it extremely hard to define and leaves room for countless debate and change with each passing decade.
We see such changes in this last decade after the event of September 11th.Life for the United States and its citizens changed as did public administration. Things like traveling and immigration rules were all changed; forever altered by those events. Public Administration as a whole is every changing, developing and growing and while the debates rage on one thing hasn’t changed is its focus.
Woodrow Wilsons essay brought to light an idea and eventually a field of study whose ultimate goal is to unite the cause of the citizens and the government.The fact that the field of public administration are so broad and varied that even today people have trouble defining it, but that hasn’t stop them from trying . References Public Administration Concepts and Cases - By Richard J. Stillman II, Public Administration http://en.
wikipedia. org/wiki/Public_administration The Myth of the Dichotomy: Complementarity of Politics and Administration in the Past and Future of Public Administration: (March/April 2001) James H. Svara (North Carolina State University)
