Woodrow Wilson's Dichotomy Summary

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Woodrow Wilson is regarded as the father or founder of what today is called Public Administration. It is in his master piece (The Study of Administration which he published in 1887. ) that Wilson’s ideas and passion about the politics-administration dichotomy are clearly presented. Over the years though his literature work shows that any of Wilson’s ideas or theories about the politics-administration dichotomy is based solely on how future generations either understood or misunderstood his article. Wilson’s argument that “administration lies outside the proper sphere of politics” and that “administrative questions are not political questions” is best seen through his argument that “Politics is state activity in things great and universal, while administration, on the other hand, is the activity of the state in individual and small things” (Wilson, “The Study of Administration”, p.…show more content…
The majority of workers are comprised of educated and driven workforce to help people with backgrounds in public administration at most times. Only a small percentage of these agencies are appointed to their positions by the President. This sort of refers back to the spoil system, but in this sense the people appointed are qualified for the job. An unlike the Spoil System in the early 20th Century the appointed key figure will either maintain their job or until their tenure is up, and a new person will be appointed by the current presidential party. They will not be forced out of position just because a new presidential party does not like the person. These three agencies portrays the strong connection that exists still between politics and administration. That being said it supports Woodrow Wilson’s thesis that the two are practically undividable, but neither influence the

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