Within the American system of government, there is an innate need for a structure or agency that develops strategy and maintains power. “Ecology” is a term used to describe living organisms and their interactions between their natural and developed environment and was first applied to the field of public administration by the late Professor John M. Guas of Harvard University (Stillman, 2010).
Using this view, the organization and its employees are like the structure of a living organism. The environment of the organization contributes to the establishment of the power that it will come to acquire or lose over its life. Organizations must define their existence and develop policy initiatives that set forth goals or missions that are obtainable so they can develop a foothold within the structure of the system. The sources of these footholds can be developed through the political structureand the social make up of society. There are three primary paths through which they may develop: falter, status quo, or growth.
Falter – Agencies who are unable to garner support or develop a real or perceived need for their existence are often either cut out of the structure or left to wither away with dwindling budgets and lack of political posturing.
Status Quo – Agencies who find enough support to maintain themselves as relatively docile elements of the bureaucracy that continue to exist under the protection of a friendly political ally. These agencies can neither develop a positive growth plan nor the political or social support to garner additional support beyond their present existence.
Growth – Agencies which develop either the political or social structure necessary for growth. Through either real or perceived needs, th...
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...vanced knowledge and ownership in the task as a reason to elevate the administrative power possessed by the agency. Those who fall out of favor can likewise find that the support that was once the seed of their successful organization has now become the source of great tension and faltering public and legislative support.
The concepts of ecology and power continue to go hand in hand in the field of public administration. The organizational environment across the political structure contributes to the ever flowing tide of life that makes up the administrative system of government. This system is continually breathing life into new entities while seeking to tend to the wounded agencies that it encompasses. The founding fathers may have best summarized the mandate for administrative power in the opening line of the preamble of the Consitution, "We the people..."
Burns, James MacGregor, J.W Peltason, Thomas E. Cronin, and David B. Magleby. Government By The People. 01-02 Edition ed. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2002
Modern Bureaucracy in the United States serves to administer, gather information, conduct investigations, regulate, and license. Once set up, a bureaucracy is inherently conservative. The reason the bureaucracy was initiated may not continue to exist as a need in the future. The need or reason may change with a change in the times and the culture needs. A bureaucracy tends to make decisions that protect it and further it’s own existence, possibly apart from the wishes of the populace. It may not consistently reflect what might be optimal in terms of the needs and wants of the people. Local governments employ most of the United States civil servants. The 14 cabinet departments in the U.S. are run day-to-day by career civil servants, which have a great deal of discretionary authority.
Katznelson, Ira, Mark Kesselman, and Alan Draper. The Politics of Power: A Critical Introduction to American Government (Seventh Edition). New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2014. Print.
"American Government: Institutions and Policies [Hardcover]." American Government: Institutions and Policies: James Q. Wilson, Jr. John J. DiIulio, Meena Bose: 9781111830014: Amazon.com: Books. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.
In the field of Public Administration there is a highly-defined structure of constitutional, legal, and procedural requirements that are in place to keep those in power in check. That being said, no matter how stringent the oversight, or how well-meaning the intentions of those who serve, Public Service is a complicated field with many landmines to navigate. As the Iran-Contra Affair illustrates, duties, orders, and responsibilities and can easily conflict with each other because there are so many areas of
Whereas the six functions of government, as articulated in the Preamble remain the same, the functions have extended to govern issues not a factor during the 18th century. However, the primary function of the government to maintain order has remained unchanged. Demonstrated through various avenues, these functions are open to interpretation. Throughout time, the government continuously adapted itself to provide various services and regulations to the public that it views as beneficial for the public good. Such services have grown to include food standards, consumer protection, health, and education among others. Examples of governmental function expansion since ratification of the constitution can be seen in the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Energy, FEMA, and much more. Through FEMA, the federal government provides disaster relief funding to help communities struck by floods and tornadoes and other natural disasters. The Department of Agriculture put out the food pyramid, which helped people develop a healthy diet. The Department of Energy provides funding for research on wind energy. Clearly, food pyramids and wind energies were ...
1. O’Conner Karen and Larry Sabato. American Government: Continuity and Change, alternate 2004 ed. Longman Publishing, 2004.
Hall, Daniel E. Administrative Law: Bureaucracy in a Democracy. 5th ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2012. Print.
A key feature of the unwritten constitution is ‘the Separation of Powers’. This exercises the idea of independence within ‘different functions of government’; it is represented by the legislature, the executive and the judiciary. Separating the three prevents a dangerous occurrence where power is entirely centralized in one group. Cooperating with one...
Public administration as a field of study and as a practice has continually evolved with American society. The United States has survived and thrived through major cultural shifts, varying degrees of economic climates, and both civil and world wars. Through out all these changes in our country, one thing has always remained the same, the fact that we are an ever evolving and always changing nation. Theories and forms of practice of public administration have also evolved parallel with the history of the United States. There have been numerous events in American history have lead to changes in society and the practice of public administration has both led and followed in the adaptation process of such monumental changes.
Woodrow Wilson’s purpose in writing “The Study of Administration” is to bring awareness that the government systems in place need to be re-evaluated and improved. Wilson encourages we need to examine the history of administration set forth by others in determining certain needs to be accomplished in effective ways and methods. Wilson’s desirable outcomes for research within the public administration field are for government systems to become more productive and organized.
Frank J. Goodnow’s “Politics and Administration,” infers that politics and administration cannot be divided and are in need of each other to function. However, politics are superior to administration. Goodnow’s further analyzes and identifies three forms of authorities that enforce and implements states will. The first responsibility of authority is to respect the right of the people when conflicts ascend between either private or public matters. The second is judicial authorities also referred to as executive authorities that ensure the needs and policies of the state are executed. The third authority also referred to as “administrative authorities,” focuses on the mechanical, scientific and business authorities pertaining to the government.
A political institution is a system of politics and government. It is usually compared to the law system, economic system, cultural system, and other social systems. It is different from them, and can be generally defined on a spectrum from left, i.e. communism and socialism to the right, i.e. fascism. Linz’s argument is on the description of Totalitarian and Authoritarian Regimes, which brings the main and important argument of explaining both Presidential and Parliamentary systems. Another important author whose thoughts were referred to political institutions is Seymour Martin Lipset. His argument emphasizes on political cultural-cultural factors rather than political systems. The last individual whose main arguments refer to politics and political institutions is Donald Horowitz. He describes that Linz claims are not sustainable because it is regionally skewed and highly selective sample.
Public Administration involves the development, implementation and management of policies for the attainment of set goals and objectives that will be to the benefit of the general public. Since Public Administration involves taking decisions that affect the use of public resources there is often the question of how to utilize public resources for maximum public good. The National Association of Public Administration has identified four pillars of public administration: economy, efficiency, effectiveness and social equity. These pillars are equally important in the practice of public administration and to its success. This paper seeks to explain the role of each of the pillars in the practice of public administration.
Politics-Administration Dichotomy essentially has a two part meaning; there are two functions of government for this idea, as the name implies politics, and administration. The argument about the dichotomy between politics and public administration has been around for several years with no overall consensus on why they should be distinct from one another. Looking critically at both sides of the idea, there are ways to demonstrate an accurate presentation of the administrative agencies working and there are also ways they have proved to be inaccurate. There are just as many downfalls to a politicized bureaucracy. There will be more benefits to the politics-administration dichotomy view with the concept put in place by Woodrow Wilson. He simply promotes a clear distinction between politics and administration and supports the idea that they are interdependent of one another, and they require one another for the appropriate balance between democracy and efficiency. The idea of Wilson’s concept will allow agencies to gain the most efficiency through interdependence of politics-administration.