Woodrow
Wilson is considered to be the father of Public Administration. His article
‘The study of Administration’ is considered to be the beginning of the public
administration as a discipline. But, there have been many who have questioned Wilson’s paternity on Public Administration. Some believe that Wilson’s article
is not the first literature on public administration. There have been a number
of contributions before his work. In terms of content, Wilson’s article is not
considered to be very rich. His article did not carry a full-fledged theory and
did not carry an elaborate explanation relating to government in action. It is
also said that his work is not a classic. Thus, many believe that Wilson has
been wrongly addressed as the father of Public Administration. Irrespective of
these criticisms, Wilson could be rightfully considered as the father of public
administration. As it is argued that it is not the content of the Wilson’s
article rather it is the impact of his article which makes him the father of
the Public Administration. The previous works were not able to generate the
kind of interest in the subject which was generated by Wilson’s article.
His
article was essentially reformist in nature. He contributed his article while
referring to the malfunctioning in American Administration under the Spoils
system. This system was resulting into an inefficient and corrupt
administration. It reduced the control of the President over the administration.
His article came up in the background of this system and it said that
efficiency in public administration requires a systematized study of government
in action. Hence, it has been called reformist in nature. In this article,
Wilson has tried to explain the late emergence of Public Administration as a
discipline and has also explained that even though political science, an older
discipline has ignored the most visible and obvious part of the state i.e. the
government in action.
Political History of the State by
Wilson
1.
The
stage of Absolute Rule- This stage refers to the
Monarchic system. In such a system, the government dealt with a very limited
number of activities and the activities were very simple in nature. As a result
of which, it was considered that anybody who was able bodied and sane can
handle these activities and thereby, these activities do not require extra
skill, expertise and knowledge. Thus, the political science kept its focus on
the philosophical part of the state and ignored the practical part of the state
i.e. the government in action.
2.
The
struggle for constitutionalism and Popular Control-
Constitutionalism refers to a political arrangement which is based on the idea
of limited government and rule of law. During 1500s-1800s, there was a struggle
to snatch the power away from the Monarchy and give it to the people. The focus
was not on government in action but on why and how of popular control. Thus,
the focus rested on the concepts like equality, liberty etc. Hence, again the
political science restricted itself the study of the philosophical part of the
state and not the government in action.
3. The stage of Constitutionalism and
Popular Control- When popular control was established,
democracy became a reality. States became responsible states and people became
citizens. Thereby, the role of the state expanded drastically. The state
started undertaking large number of function and became very complex. Thus, the
government in action became very wide and complex. This resulted into the need
to focus on the government in action. Wilson says that it is only in the third
phase that the need to study the government in action arose and since the third
phase came up very late, it explains the late emergence of public
administration as a discipline.
He
also said that European administration has been very advanced in comparison to
the American Administration. Europe was under the Monarchic system; thereby the
governance systems were authoritarian in nature. These systems also faced
struggle from the people who demanded popular control. These wanted to exercise
effective control over the territory and population of their states in the
least irritating manner possible. Thus, for this they focused on administration
and the administration became more institutionalized and systematized.
He
also said that America being a democracy, for everything there used to be
elaborate debate and long discussions. Also, in USA, the responsibility for any
kind of wrong doing or failure was attributed to the US constitution and its
loopholes. Thus, Europe emphasized on administration and US emphasized on
constitution. Wilson says that it is easy to frame a constitution than to run a
constitution. The constitution becomes effective only when the values and ethos
permeates into the administration. For the constitution to be effective, the
administrators should be appropriately trained and adequately indoctrinated
with the ideals of the constitution. Thus, a good constitution is merely a
necessary condition and not a sufficient condition for a good society. Niebuhr
says that liberty of an individual is incomparably protected by the
administration.
Politics-Administration Dichotomy
Wilson
says that Politics is separate from administration. While, politics is
abstract, general and philosophical, administration is concrete, specific and technical.
Administration is away from the hurry and strife of the politics, it is more
business-like or it is less unbusiness-like. Bureaucracy to exist requires that
the whole of the bureaucracy its Chief, rank and file should be removed from
the common political line as its procedures, its functions and its standards
are bureaucratic. He is highlighting for a separate and independent study of
administration.
The
latter views of Wilson indicated a Politics-Administration fusion. He said that
Administration cannot exist and operate in the absence of politics. This
difference in opinion might be because of his experiences during the latter
days of his life. Many critics said that Wilson does not know his own mind.
While
emphasizing on the American reform on administration, Wilson emphasized the
importance of comparison with European administration because of which Wilson
has been labelled as the ‘First Comparativist’. He said that European administration
being advanced can serve as a reference point to improve and strengthen the
American administration. This view of Wilson resulted into a fear among
scholars because they believed that this initiative might result into imitation
of European administration and this will rub the American administration of its
unique values. Wilson responded by saying that comparison does not mean
imitation, comparison helps in identifying similarities and dissimilarities,
identify strengths and weaknesses. He subsequently said that this process of
comparison helps in identification of useful elements resulting into improved
operations. In the context of America, there have been a number of cases where
the America borrowed from various cultures and countries without comprising its
own values and ethos. For e.g. most of the political vocabulary of USA is
primarily of European origin. But, terms like lord, king and queen have been
left out because they did not match with the American culture and values.
Metaphorically, one could learn the art of sharpening the knife though
comparison without borrowing the intention of killing anybody. Anything that
has to be adopted has to go through the democratic processes and constitutional
values of USA such as dialogue, debate, public scrutiny, criticisms,
legislative discourses etc. It is to be filtered through the constitution and
put under the slow pyre of criticism only to distil away the foreign gases.
This argument of Wilson has credited him with the title of “First Comparativist’.
Yet, Wilson cannot be called as the initiator of the comparative approach in
public administration. His article did not give any theory and did not
elaborate on the concepts relating to public administration and government in
action. He highlighted the importance of administration and need for
introduction of public administration as a discipline.
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