POLITICS-

ADMINISTRATION
DICHOTOMY
DEFINITION:
a) POLITICS
activities that relate to influencing the actions and policies
of a government or getting and keeping power in a
government
b) ADMINISTRATION
the act or process of administering, or the execution of
public affairs as distinguished from policy-making
c) DICHOTOMY
a division or contrast between two things that are or are
represented as being opposed or entirely different.
OBJECTIVE OF WOODROW WILSON:

Neither to abolish nor ignore the

politics-administration dichotomy.
POLITICS-ADMINISTRATION
DICHOTOMY:
A theory that constructs the boundaries of
publicadministrationand asserts the normative
relationship between elected officials and
administrators in a democratic society.
A model which has provided norms for officials and
the starting point for research on the behavior of
elected officials and administrators, particularly in
local government
OBSERVATION AND ANALYSIS:

Wilson was concerned with both the corrupting and politicizing

interference of party organizations in administrative affairs.
However, Wilson originally considered politics and
administration as independent, but later embraced version of the
dichotomy, which assumed that politics and administration interact
to improve the organic state
Subsequently, Wilson asserted that administrators would
directly interpret and respond to public opinion.
Therefore, according to Wilson, they should be involved in the
policy process and elected officials should be involved in the
administrative process