This document summarizes Dwight Waldo's work on the "Administrative State" which challenged prevailing views of public administration in the 20th century. Waldo argued that the political-administration dichotomy proposed by Woodrow Wilson was false and that administration is at the core of modern democratic government. He believed democratic theory must address administration and administrative theory must address democratic politics. Waldo also argued that efficiency cannot remain the sole focus of public administration as it is a political claim that can undermine democratic values and participation.

1. The Administrative State:
Conclusion
By: Dwight Waldo
Presentation By: James Trubia
Westfield State University
Administrative Theory CRJU 0624-501
Dr. Rizzo
February 3, 2015

2.  Woodrow Wilson is considered founding father
 Defined the objective of Administration as “the
study to discover, first what government can
properly and successfully do, and secondly, how
it can do these proper things with the utmost
efficiency, and the least possible cost”
 Created the Political-Administration dichotomy

3.  Separation of politics and administration
 Comparative analysis of political and private
organizations
 Improve efficiency with business-life practices
 Improve effectiveness of service through
management and training

4.  Frederick Taylor became a prominent figure in
administration and management theory
 Published a booked entitled “The Principles of
Scientific Management”
 Idea was scientific analysis best ways to carry
out operations

5.  Replace work methods with scientific study
 Scientifically train and develop each employee
 Provide detailed instruction and supervision of
each employee
 Divide work equally between managers and
workers so scientific methods can be applied

6.  Dwight Waldo became a prominent figure for
administration
 Developed the “Administrative State”
 His theories later became known as Waldoian

7.  American political scientist
 Defining figure in modern
public administration
 Against a technical
portrayal of bureaucracy and
government

8. :
 Excerpt from Waldo’s book
“The Administrative State”.
 Composed in 1948 and later
revised in 1984
 Challenged scholars’ view of
public administration during
the 20th
century

9.  Idea/Term came about in early 1900s
 Intellectual development of public administration
 The political-administration dichotomy is false
 Woodrow Wilson
 Waldoian Approach
 Administration is not separate

10.  Administration is claimed to be at the core of
modern democratic government
 This CLAIM helps justify the entire disciple of
public administration

11.  If this claim has merit, then it implies two
thoughts,
 Democratic theory must deal with administration
 Administrative theory must deal with democratic
politics

12.  Nature of the “Good Life”
 What a good society looks like
 Action
 Procedures for determining how decisions are made
 Who should rule?
 How the powers of the state should be divided
and apportioned (Divided powers)
 Centralization vs. decentralization

13.  “Orthodox” ideology
 Indication of a quality of general agreement
 Certain general beliefs predominated
 Efficiency
 Political claim
 Input-output ratio

14. 
 Consist of 4 Characteristics
 1. Democracy = Efficiency
 The two terms thought to be synonymous
 Referring to bureaucracy

15.  2. Government work was though to be divisible
into two parts
 Decisions and execution
 Politics administration dichotomy

16.  3. Execution is a science based on firm scientific
principles for administration
 Easily discoverable and applied

17.  4. Values of business management apply to
government administration
 Practices lead to success

18.  The term itself is a value and it can run counter
to other variables
 Such as democratic participation
 Efficiency can not remain the disciplines
talisman against politics. Why? Efficiency is a
political claim.

19.  By specialization of the task among the group
 By arranging the members of a group in
hierarchy of authority
 By limiting the span of control at any point in
hierarchy to a small number
 Grouping workers according to purpose, process,
and place

20. 1. Fundamental tension between democracy,
efficiency, and bureaucracy that protect
democratic principles.
2. PA dictotomy is wrong. Public servants hold
political positions that require implementing
policy by elected officials.
3. Public servants must negotiate efficiencies
demanded by scientific management with due
process and public access to government.
4. Government cannot be run like business.
Constitution must be honored.

21.  Held in patronage for Waldo in 1968
 Brought about the idea of “New Public
Administration” consisting of
 Democratic citizenship
 Public interest
 Public policy
 Services to citizens