Politics Administration Dichotomy
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10-JUN-05
14:06
Administrative Theory & Praxis
Vol. 27, No. 2, 2005: 311–329
R
THE VALUE OF THE DICHOTOMY: POLITICS, ADMINISTRATION, AND THE POLITICAL NEUTRALITY OF ADMINISTRATORS
Patrick Overeem Leiden University
ABSTRACT
Post-war students of public administration have widely rejected the politics-administration dichotomy, but, paradoxically, they have, as a rule, not abandoned the historically and conceptually closely related value of political neutrality of administrators. Rather, they reconceptualized the classical politics-administration dichotomy as a policyadministration dichotomy. This blurring of “politics” and “policy” has eclipsed the dichotomy’s close relationship with political neutrality, as both notions call for the exclusion of administrators from “partisan politics” rather than from “policy politics.” The argument that the politics-administration dichotomy is “false” because of administration’s deep involvement in policy-making is a non sequitur, however. The value of political neutrality can help to recover the meaning and sense of the politics-administration dichotomy. Acceptance of the former should be complemented by a rehabilitation of the latter.
OMNIVOROUS VEGETARIANISM For more than half a century now, the so-called politics-administration dichotomy has been one of the most disreputable notions in the field of public administration. It is widely regarded both unfeasible and undesirable to keep politics and administration apart; their relationship is presently depicted as “complementary” rather than dichotomous (cf. Frederickson & Smith, 2003, pp. 15-40; Riggs, 1987; Svara, 1998, 1999, and 2001; Svara & Brunet, 2003). Against this current, I argue that the value historically and conceptually most directly associated with the dichotomy, the political neutrality of public administrators, shows it is still reasonable to differentiate, in theory and
unknown
Seq: 1
10-JUN-05
14:06
Administrative Theory & Praxis
Vol. 27, No. 2, 2005: 311–329
R
THE VALUE OF THE DICHOTOMY: POLITICS, ADMINISTRATION, AND THE POLITICAL NEUTRALITY OF ADMINISTRATORS
Patrick Overeem Leiden University
ABSTRACT
Post-war students of public administration have widely rejected the politics-administration dichotomy, but, paradoxically, they have, as a rule, not abandoned the historically and conceptually closely related value of political neutrality of administrators. Rather, they reconceptualized the classical politics-administration dichotomy as a policyadministration dichotomy. This blurring of “politics” and “policy” has eclipsed the dichotomy’s close relationship with political neutrality, as both notions call for the exclusion of administrators from “partisan politics” rather than from “policy politics.” The argument that the politics-administration dichotomy is “false” because of administration’s deep involvement in policy-making is a non sequitur, however. The value of political neutrality can help to recover the meaning and sense of the politics-administration dichotomy. Acceptance of the former should be complemented by a rehabilitation of the latter.
OMNIVOROUS VEGETARIANISM For more than half a century now, the so-called politics-administration dichotomy has been one of the most disreputable notions in the field of public administration. It is widely regarded both unfeasible and undesirable to keep politics and administration apart; their relationship is presently depicted as “complementary” rather than dichotomous (cf. Frederickson & Smith, 2003, pp. 15-40; Riggs, 1987; Svara, 1998, 1999, and 2001; Svara & Brunet, 2003). Against this current, I argue that the value historically and conceptually most directly associated with the dichotomy, the political neutrality of public administrators, shows it is still reasonable to differentiate, in theory and