Administration and Politics Dichotomy

Administration and Politics Dichotomy

Woodrow Wilson is regarded as the “Father of Public Administration”. He described public administration as a “detailed and systematic execution of public law”. In 1887 he published an essay entitled “The Study of Public Administration”. At the time of his essay the progressive movement was in full swing in the late 1800’s with increasing urbanization, immigration, corruption and loss of family values. Under Andrew Jackson the loyal political supporters were the only ones appointed to administrative positions, while the less qualified were hired into public service which caused an increase of inefficiency in public administration. Wilson saw the need to reform the government, especially in the area of public administration and make it more efficient. The development of the “science of public administration” was his cure for the current corrupt and inefficiency of the administration. His idea created an independent field of study on Public Administration. Wilson divided the government into two elements, political and administrative. The politics are handled with questions of policy formulation, while administration carried the policy out. Public administration is a business which is separate from politics even though it is part of it. Therefore, Wilson established a distinction between politics and administration. He pushed for a politically neutral administration system for a democracy, saying it should be separate from the political element, but be under democratic control. Wilson also believed that if public administration was separate from politics and the influence of Andrew Jackson’s “spoils system”, the U.S. would become more of a business and develop scientifically on its own. The separation of Public Administration and Politics are as follows: Administration
Executes the will of the people Deals with the civil servant A person becomes a civil servant on his own intelligence A person becomes a civil servant through...