Base Closings and the Politics-Administration Dichotomy Revisited

Public Administration Review

Nyhan

2008

113

The politics–administration dichotomy has been one of the most disputed theories of public administration. Despite serious critiques, neither the theoretical utility nor the normative power of the dichotomy has totally disappeared over the past decades. The dichotomy has been advocated on the grounds that the dichotomous division of labor and authority between elected and administrative officials increases the democratic accountability and planning ability of public administrators. This article first builds a theoretical model of the politics–administration dichotomy and then evaluates the model using empirical data collected from a nationwide sample of city managers serving in council‐manager local governments. Results of structural equation modeling illustrate that the politics–administration dichotomy fails to obtain its predicted tendencies in actuality. The authors interpret the findings in light of the contemporary public administration literature. The article aims to make a theoretical‐empirical contribution to one of the most challenging questions in public administration.

Section: How Does the Dichotomy Operate In Theory?mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Politics–Administration Dichotomy: An Empirical Search for Correspondence between Theory and Practice

Public Administration Review

Nyhan

2008

113

“…Elected officials are encouraged to offer their helping hand in the administrative domain by directing, supervising, and overseeing policy implementation, but should not interfere with routine operations of management (Svara, 2001). Such interference will not only undermine administrative integrity, but also militate against consistent and efficient policy implementation (Abney & Lauth, 1982;Koven, 1992;Demir & Nyhan, 2008;Demir, 2009a). Elected officials tend to engage in these kinds of managerial activities with the hope of increasing their visibility in public, gaining constituent support, and seeking special treatment for their individual constituents (Abney & Lauth, 1982;Hansen & Ejersbo, 2002).…”

Section: Dimension Ii: Respect For Administrative Authoritymentioning

confidence: 95%

Interaction Quality in Political-Administrative Relations in the United States: Testing a Multi-Dimensional Model

International Journal of Public Administration

Nank

2012

Complementarity has become the new label to characterize the relations between elected officials and professional public administrators. In response to increasingly complex and challenging problems that face local government officials today, public administration scholars have explored how to improve the efficacy of interactions between elected and appointed officials. To do so, scholars have proposed that characteristics of quality interactions include mutual respect, understanding, communication, and partnership between the two parties. Inadequate empirical research, however, exists to help us understand what interaction quality means. This study fills an important gap in the literature by proposing and testing a multi-dimensional model to explain interaction quality. This study utilizes survey data collected from a nationwide sample of city managers in the United States and employs structural equation modeling.

“…Some studies focused on the political and policy role of public administrators and others focused on elected officials' involvement in public administration (e.g., Abney & Lauth, 1982;Hasset & Watson, 2002;Koven, 1992;Loveridge, 1971;Nalbandian, 1994;Selden et al, 1999;Watson, 1997). For example, Watson (1997) studied political profiles of local bureaucrats in Alabama and identified likely characteristics of bureaucrats that would be more politically engaged.…”

Section: Empirical Approach: a Search For Fit Between Theory And Pracmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…He found evidence in support of the idea that expertise helps minimize partisan politics. Koven (1992) studied base-closing decisions to see whether the politics-administration dichotomy holds currency in this special case where the legislation was designed in a manner to isolate administration from politics. His analysis, however, showed the difficulties of that isolation despite intentional legislative efforts.…”

Section: Empirical Approach: a Search For Fit Between Theory And Pracmentioning

confidence: 99%

Politics and Administration

Administrative Theory & Praxis

2009

The question of how public administration fits into the governance process of a democratic society has been of great concern to scholars and practitioners since the emergence of public administration as an academic field of study in the late 1880s. The politics-administration relationship is considered of pivotal importance, as the issue bears important implications for both the disciplinary identity (and autonomy) and the institutional development of public administration. Despite a voluminous literature on the subject, the question remains unanswered. Scholarly inquiry to this date identifies two major positions, one separation and the other its opposite, political. Unlike prior conceptualizations, this article distills the literature into three major schools of thought as separation, political, and interaction. The article then examines the state of the research that has followed three strands as historical, conceptual, and empirical. The author makes an overall evaluation of the past research and lays out a different approach in studying this important question.