Introduction: Politicians and administrators in the political process - A review of themes and issues in the literature

International Journal of Public Administration

Volumn 29, Issue 12, 2006, Pages 953-976

  Svara, James H ^a  

^a ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 33749239200     PISSN: 01900692     EISSN: 15324265     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/01900690600854555     Document Type: Editorial

References (87)

1. Heady, F.(1984) Public Administration: A Comparative Perspective. New York: Marcel Dekker.
2. Hood, C. (2002) Control, Bargains, and Cheating: The Politics of Public-Service Reform Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 12(3), pp. 309-322.
3. Farazmand, Ali.(1997) Introduction. In Modern Systems of Government Exploring the Role of Bureaucrats and Politicians. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage Publications.
4. Krause, G. A.(1999) A Two-Way Street: The Institutional Dynamics of the Modern Administrative State. Pittsburgh PA: University of Pittsburgh Press.
5. Wilson, W. (1887) The Study of Administration Political Science Quarterly 2, pp. 197-222. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307%2F2139277 10230722139277
6. Goodnow, F. J.(1900) Politics and Administration. New York: MacMillan.
7. Svara, J. H. (1998) The Politics-Administration Dichotomy Model as Aberration Public Administration Review, 58, pp. 51-58. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307%2F976889 1023072976889
8. In Sayre's view of dichotomy (in Sayre, W. Premises of Public Administration: Past and Emerging. Public Administration Review 1958, 18, 103), "politics and policy were separate from administration, which was concerned exclusively with the execution of assignments handed down from the realm of politics," and his definition was very influential in shaping the definition of the dichotomy in the United States and its association with the early scholars in public administration according to Svara (Svara, J. H. Complementarity of Politics and Administration as a Legitimate Alternative to the Dichotomy Model. Administration & Society 1999, 30, 676-705). As the concept was described prior to Sayre's article, it was permissible for administrators to propose policy but the dichotomy idea was deemed useful as it helped to focus public attention on elected officials and to shield administrators from interference.
9. Kettl, D. F. (2000) Public Administration at the Millennium: The State of the Field Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 10, pp. 7-34.
10. Putnam, Robert D.(1975) The Political Attitudes of Senior Civil Servants in Britain, Germany, and Italy. In The Mandarins of Western Europe: The Political Role of Top Civil Servants. (pp. 89-91). New York: John Wiley & Sons.
11. Montjoy, R. S. and Watson, D. J. (1995) A Case for Reinterpreted Dichotomy of Politics and Administration as a Professional Standard in Council-Manager Government Public Administration Review, 55, pp. 231-239. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307%2F3110241 10230723110241
12. Aberbach, J. B. and Putnam, R. D. and Rockman, B. A.(1981) Bureaucrats and Politicians in Western Democracies. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
13. This is one of four images in Aberbach et al., Bureaucrats and Politicians in Western Democracies. Image 1 is essentially the dichotomy model, i.e., a divided world in which the "politicians make decisions; bureaucrats merely implement them."
14. Golden, M. M.(2000) What Motivates Bureaucrats?: Politics and Administration during the Reagan Years. New York: Columbia University Press.
15. Hood, 2002.
16. Larsen, Helge O.(2005) New executive structures: Some lessons from Europe and the US. In Transforming Political Leadership in Local Government. (pp. 195-211). Haundmills Basingstoke: Palgrave.
17. In this model and others, the definition of "neutral competence" is an active one. "Neutral" means neither value-free (and certainly not value-less) nor passive. Asmeron et al. (Asmeron, H. K.; Reis, E. P., Eds. Democratization and Political Neutrality; MacMillan Press: London, 1996; 8-9) come to the same conclusion in their review of studies in a number of countries: "Neutrality does not mean that top-level civil servants cannot or should not be involved in the articulation of public policy. Indeed, senior officials are professionally and morally obliged to provide their political leaders with the best policy alternatives based on sound arguments, relevant precedents, and suitability to the changing environment. The expectation that they will render this service from a non-partisan position is the crux of the matter." Viewed in this way, neutral competence can be compatible with any of the approaches with the possible exception of the "responsive administrator" model.
18. Golden, 2000; 5-8.
19. Golden, 2000.
20. Inquiry Confirms Medicare Chief Threatened Actuary, New York Times, July 7, 2004 http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/07/politics/ 07medicare.html?ei-5090&en=eaab78cb0575700f&ex= 1246939200&partner=rssuserland&pagewanted=all&position=
21. Thompson (Thompson, D. The Possibility of Administrative Ethics. Public Administration Review 1985, 45, 556) argues that when neutrality is defined most narrowly, it would presume that administrators exercise no independent judgment about the rightness or appropriateness of the actions of government.
22. (1946) From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology. New York: Oxford University Press. Gerth, H. H.; Mills, C. W., Trans
23. Banks, J. S. and Weingast, B. R. (1992) The Political Control of Bureaucracies under Asymmetric Information American Journal of Political Science, 36, pp. 509-524.
24. Tullock, G.(1965) The Politics of Bureaucracy. Washington DC: Public Affairs Press.
25. Niskanen, W.(1971) Bureaucracy and Representative Government. Chicago: Aldine.
26. Dunleavy, P.(1991) Democracy, Bureaucracy, and Public Choice: Economic Explanations in Political Science. London: Harvester Wheatsheafs.
27. Gruber, J. E.(1987) Controlling Bureaucracies. Berkeley: University of California Press.
28. Gruber, 1987; 109-110.
29. Stein, L.(1991) Holding Bureaucrats Accountable: Politicians and Professionals in St. Louis. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press.
30. Jones, Bryan D.(1995) Bureaucrats and Urban Politics: Who Controls? Who Benefits?. In Theories of Urban Politics (pp. 72-95). Thousand Oaks California: Sage Publications.
31. Golden, 2000; 17.
32. Wood, D. B. and Waterman, R. W.(1994) Bureaucratic Dynamics: The Role of Bureaucracy in a Democracy. Boulder CO: Westview Press.
33. Peters, B. G.(1989) The Politics of Bureaucracy 3rd. White Plains NY: Longman.
34. Riggs, Fred W.(1997) Coups and Crashes: Lessons for Public Administration. In Modern Systems of Government: Exploring the Role of Bureaucrats and Politicians. (pp. 8-47). Thousand Oaks CA: Sage Publications.
35. Peters, 1989; 210. Peters views the military as being outside the bureaucracy.
36. Golden, 2000.
37. Moe, Terry M.(1985) The Politicized Presidency. In The New Direction in American Politics. (pp. 239-240). Washington: Brookings Institution.
38. Aberbach, J. B. and Rockman, B. A.(1993). Civil Servants and Policy Makers: Neutral or Responsive Competence. Paper delivered at the APSA annual meeting In [pp.].
39. Rourke, F. A. (1992) Responsiveness and Neutral Competence in American Bureaucracy Public Administration Review, 52, pp. 539-546. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307%2F977164 1023072977164
40. Eggers, W. D. and O'Leary, J.(1995) Revolution at the Roots. New York: Free Press.
41. Aberbach, J. D. and Rockman, B. A.(2000) In the Web of Politics: Three Decades of the U.S. Federal Executive. Washington DC: Brookings Institution Press.
42. Moe, Terry M.(1989) The Politics of Bureaucratic Structure. In Can the Government Govern?. (pp. 283). Washington: Brookings Institution.
43. Golden, 2000.
44. Aberbach and Rockman, 1993.
45. As Christensen indicates in this issue, dependence on a coalition may constrain the government from securing a higher level of responsiveness from administrators.
46. Riggs, 1997.
47. Another interpretation (summarized in Sincere deceivers, The Economist 2004, July 17-23, 372, 11) that seems consistent with British and American official inquiries is that the top officials in both countries were "honest about what they believed" but "not honest about how solid their knowledge really was" based on the reports developed by intelligence agencies without political interference. This interaction presumably reflects a breakdown in the separate roles model with insufficient scrutiny by politicians when they received the information that was consistent with their preferred policy.
48. Self, P.(1972) Administrative Theories and Politics: An Inquiry into the Structure and Processes of Modern Government. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd.
49. Self, 1972; 149.
50. Self, 1972.
51. Woodruff, C. R.(1919) A New Municipal Program. New York: D. Appleton and Company.
52. Woodruff, 1919.
53. Woodruff, 1919.
54. Norton, A.(1991) The Role of Chief Executive in British Local Government University of Birmington, Institute of Local Government Studies: Birmington, 1991.
55. Putnam R.D. 1975 90.
56. Aberbach and Putnam, 1981.
57. Marini, F.(1971) Toward a New Public Administration: The Minnowbrook Perspective. San Francisco: Chandler Publishing Co.
58. Frederickson, H. G.(1980) The New Public Administration. University AL: University of Alabama Press.
59. Mouritzen, P. E. and Svara, J. H.(2002) Leadership at the Apex: Politicians and Administrators in Western Local Governments. Pittsburgh PA: University of Pittsburgh Press.
60. Nalbandian, J. (1994) Reflections of a "Pracademic" on the Logic of Politics and Administration Public Administration Review, 54, pp. 531. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307%2F976672 1023072976672
61. Svara, James H.(1989) Policy and Administration: City Managers as Comprehensive Professional Leaders. In Ideal and Practice in City Management. Washington DC: International City Management Association.
62. Svara, J. H. (1999) The Shifting Boundary Between Elected Officials and City Managers in Large Council-Manager Cities Public Administration Review 59, pp. 44-53. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307%2F977478 1023072977478
63. Norton, 1991.
64. Mouritzen and Svara, 2002.
65. (1990) Leadership and Innovation, Entrepreneurs in Government. Baltimore/ London: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
66. Schneider, M. and Teske, P. (1992) Toward a Theory of the Political Entrepreneur: Evidence from Local Government American Political Science Review, 86, pp. 737-747. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307%2F1964135 10230721964135
67. Cook, B. J.(1996) Bureaucracy and Self-Government. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
68. Jones, 1995; 72-95.
69. Wood and Waterman 1994; 141.
70. Krause, 1999.
71. Lee, Mordecai. (2001) Looking at the Politics - Administration Dichotomy from the Other Direction: Participant Observation by a State Senator International Journal of Public Administration, 24, pp. 368.
72. Farazmand, 1997.
73. Svara, J. H. (1999) The Shifting Boundary Between Elected Officials and City Managers in Large Council-Manager Cities Public Administration Review, 59, pp. 44-53. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307%2F977478 1023072977478
74. Nardulli, R. F. and Stonecash, J. M.(1981) Politics, Professionalism, and Urban Services. Cambridge: Oelgeschlager, Gunn, and Hain Publishers.
75. Stein, 1991; 61-62.
76. Aberbach, J. B. and Putnam, R. D. and Rockman, B. A.(1981) Bureaucrats and Politicians in Western Democracies. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
77. Mouritzen and Svara, 2002.
78. Four types of CEOs - political agent, professional agent, interdependent, or independent - were classified based on comparison of the influence ratings of top politicians and administrators by Mouritzen and Svara, Leadership at the Apex, Chapter 9. The types are discussed more fully in my article included in this issue.
79. Dunn, D.(1997) Politics and Administration at the Top: Lessons from Down Under. Pittsburgh PA: University of Pittsburgh Press.
80. Wood and Waterman, 1994; 141-142.
81. Svara, James H.; Brunet, James R. Finding and Refining Complementarity in Recent Conceptual Models of Politics and Administration. In Retracing Public Administration, Research in Public Administration, Vol. 7; Rutgers, Mark R., Ed.; Elsevier Science: Amsterdam, 2003; 185-208. Nalbandian's "model relationship between council and staff," in this issue (Table 2), shares many characteristics with complementarity.
82. Aberbach and Rockman, 2000.
83. Mouritzen and Svara, 2002.
84. Kettl, D. F.; Pollitt, C.; Svara, J. H. Towards a Danish Concept of Public Governance: An International Perspective. Report to the Danish Forum for Top Executive Management. 2004; 52 http://www.publicgovernance.dk/docs/0408260903.pdf
85. Miller, G. (2000) Above Politics: Credible Commitment and Efficiency in the Design of Public Agencies Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 10, pp. 289-327.
86. Government of Canada Privy Council, Guidance for Deputy Ministers, 2003. http://www.pco-bcp.gc.ca/default.asp?page= publications&Language=E&doc=gdm-gsm/gdm-gsm_doc_e.htm
87. Kettl, Pollitt, and Svara, 2004; 52.