Theories Of Politics-Administration Dichotomy

Politics-administration dichotomy was proposed by Woodrow Wilson (1887). He believed that reforms in government and public administration were necessary to increase effectiveness. The following essay will introduce the theory, its essentiality in the development of public administration study and two alternative public administration theories.

Wilson suggested the government should be divided into two separate spheres- politics and administration. Politics are questions of policy formulation, while administration is about implementation of such policies. Public administration is defined as “detailed and systematic execution of public law”.

Another characteristic is that “The field of administration is a filed of business”. Administration

The theory is groundbreaking that public administration is viewed from a scientific perspective. Administration can be systematic and out of the scope of politics. People are inspired and interested in Public administration and it is separately studied afterwards (Brownlow, 1956).

It is also because the theory laid the principle of public administration that the Study of public administration “derived form the Study of politics, was to be distinguished from it, but not divorced from its maxims and truths”. Clear boundaries of public administration are built to ensure the administrative effectiveness (Svara, 1998). It also reduce span of control of a politician to ensure the limit of power. While administrators need to be granted appropriate discretionary power to ensure effectiveness.

Thirdly, the theory affected formation of bureaucracies, including 1940’s US. Elements of neutrality and partiality are emphasized. To achieve a professional administration, the government should recruit trained and educated administrators, which abandoned the appointment solely based on partisan. As administrators are political neutral, they are more ‘trustworthy’ in eyes of public. This also affects the image of the

Seven steps in administration (POSDCORB), planning, organizing, staffing directing, coordinating, reporting and budgeting, are promoted. Planning is the foundation of the following steps that refers to sketching the task and procedures to complete them. Organizing is the classification and synchronization of sub-processes of the work. Staffing is selection of appropriate staffs and provision of training and favorable working environment to them. Directing is delegation of structured orders for execution of decision. Coordination is establishing links between various parts of work. Reporting is recording and inspecting the progress of work and report to the supervisors. Budgeting is that all parts of work need to be under cost-control like financial planning and