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Politics Administration Dichotomy Essay

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Administration and Politics Dichotomy
Advantages and Disadvantages

Abstract
By discussing some of the advantages and disadvantages of administration and politics dichotomy, an opinion of whether it is useful or impossible will be made. Wilson’s politics administration dichotomy refers to the idea that administrative decisions need to be made without political influence. One argument to this is that politics has transformed, let’s say, the role of a city manager from a neutral expert to a problem solver and dichotomy should be replaced with an expanded base of professional values for them.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Politics and Administration Dichotomy An advantage of having politics and administration dichotomy is that …show more content…

It also shields administrators from scrutiny and serves the interests of elected officials who can pass responsibility for unpopular decisions to administrators. This strict separation of policy makers and service deliverers can lower the quality of governance and service. Then there is the topic of ethics. Neither professional standards nor individual conscience can be alone the framework for public administrative ethics but both are present. So, the downside of dichotomy is there would not be a flow of ideas and concerns between the politicians and the administrators. I think dichotomy is almost impossible to have when it comes to politics and administration, but that word should be replaced by a set of rules and values that both can follow. The politicians should set the goal and the public administrators pave the path. I believe there needs to be communication between the two on certain topics as well. I like to use analogies, so the one that comes to mind is the relationship between officers and NCOs in the army. Officers (being the politician) and NCOs (being the public administrators) need to have a professional relationship. The officer comes to an NCO with a task (goal, mission, policy, etc.). It is the NCO’s job to make sure his or her soldiers’ (which would be the public in this case) accomplish the task. Regardless if

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