Over time, how have members of the field of public administration examined the subject of politics and administration?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Woodrow Wilson, Frank Goodnow, and other scholars of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries affirmed the politics–administration dichotomy, which means separating policy—that is, the political work of making policy—from administration. This dichotomy stemmed in part from the need to develop a distinctive field of study and in part from the efforts to reform city government. Over time, it became obvious to those in the field that administrative staffs share in the policy formation function, leading many to reject the policy–administration dichotomy. Scholar Nicholas Henry divides the study of public administration into the following periods: 1900–1926 politics–administration dichotomy reigns; 1927–1937 development and affirmation of clear principals of public administration; 1938–1950 rejection of earlier work, policy–administration dichotomy and clear principals; 1950–1970 public administration gets worked into the study of political science (1956–1970 emphasis on management); post–1970 return to a specific focus on public administration as its own field taking note of other studies of management methods found in other fields and the public interest commitment of administrators in government. The text maintains that policy and administration are intertwined, but the motivations of policymakers and public administrators are very different.