© Hun Myoung Park (2014.10.7)
Public Management: 1
INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF JAPAN
Public Management and Policy Analysis Program
Graduate School of International Relations
DCC5330 (2 Credits)
Public Management
Fall 2014
Class Note: Woodrow Wilson’s “The Study of Administration” (1887)
This note provides students with key summary of Woodrow Wilson (1887). However,
students MAY NOT use it as a substitute of assigned readings.
Administration as “Less Unbusinesslike”
Wilson was facing a transition period after the Civil War that resulted in changes in U.S.
constitutional settings. In particular, politics (Congress) dominated and the federal
government was lacking professionals largely due to so called “spoil systems.” In this vein,
he argues, “it is clearing the moral atmosphere of official life by establishing the sanctity of
public office as a public trust, and, by making the service unpartisan, it is opening the way
for making it businesslike” (p.210, italicized by the instructor hereafter). When reviewing
Wilson’s seminal work, Stillman (1973) puts “… the pressing issues of the day … is how to
make politics less open to the influence of the spoilsmen, less prone to political abuse, and
more representative of the general public interest rather than of special interests” (p.585).
Wilson wants public administration to be independent of politics (not necessarily public and
private dichotomy. See Stillman’s p.586) so that the U.S. government, although remaining
behind (compared to administration of Germany, France, and England), moves forward to be
“less unbusinesslike.” Let me copy some of his arguments: “The field of administration is a
field of business. It is removed from the hurry and strife of politics…” (p.209) “…
administration lies outside the proper sphere of politics. Administrative questions are not
political questions. Although politics sets the tasks for administration, it should not be
suffered to manipulate its offices” (p.210). Stillman (1973) argues, “Wilson’s mind was
increasingly being attracted to the study of administration as a possible method for correcting
the political abuses so painfully apparent to the reformers of his era” (p.585).
Wilson describes the nature of public administration as, “Administration … is government in
action; it is the executive, the operative, the most visible side of government, and is of course
as old as government itself.” (p.198) “Public administration is detailed and systematic
execution of public law. Every particular application of general law is an act of
administration. … but the general law which direct these things to be done are as obviously
outside of and above administration. The broad plans of governmental action are not
administrative; the detailed execution of such plans is administrative” (p.212).
However, public managers should not remain passive and simply execute what is ordered by
politicians and Congress. He notes, “… because administrator should have and does have a
will of his own in the choice of means for accomplishing his work. He is not and ought not to
be a mere passive instrument” (p.212).
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© Hun Myoung Park (2014.10.7)
Public Management: 2
The most frequently cited statement in Wilson (1887) is “A science of administration which
shall seek to straighten the paths of government, to make its business less unbusinesslike, to
strengthen and purify its organization, and to crown its duties with dutifulness” (p.201,
emphasized and italicized by the instructor). This sentence highlights the ultimate goal of
public administration reform at that time and is still valid.
Administration in Human History
It seems to me that some scholars mistakenly consider Wilson the inventor of (modern)
public administration. Public management as a terminology seems to be an American
product, but public administration may have as long history as does human beings. In ancient
Northeast Asia, Confucianism, represented by Confucius or Kong Qiu (孔子) and Mencius
(孟子), provides guidelines for managing a state with emphasis on rén (仁, generosity or
humaneness) and yì (義, righteousness). Legalism (法家) or Taoism (道家) also suggested
ways for effective administration during 700-200 B.C. before Qin (秦) dynasty terminated
such chaotic period. Of course, Rome has had substantial political, social, and cultural
influences on the West.
Wilson looks at Europe (England, Germany, and France) and finds his model for American
administration. He briefly mentions Prussia (Frederic the Great), France (Revolution), and
England (Henry II) and explains progress of administration in such kingdoms. He says, “No
one wrote systematically of administration as a branch of the science of government…”
(p.198) “American writers have hitherto taken no very important part in the advancement of
this science. It has found its doctors in Europe. It is not of our making; it is a foreign
science… if we would employ it, we must Americanize it…” (p.201-202).
Paradoxically, European countries nowadays try to learn American administration. Asian
countries are not an exception. We are encountering the similar circumstance that Wilson was
facing 120 years ago. Hence, don’t be frustrated! To parody Wilson’s sentences, PM is not an
Asian product; we are finding our doctors in America; and we must “Asianize” it!
Democratic Administration
Wilson argues that America after the Civil War reframed its constitutions and is ready for
developing administration under the new constitution. Paradoxically, “popular sovereignty”
as opposed to kingdom tends to keep administration from moving fast. “It is harder for
democracy to organize administration than for monarchy. … In order to make any advance
at all we must instruct and persuade a multitudinous monarch called public opinion, -- a
much less feasible undertaking than to influence a single monarch called a king.” (p. 207)
American administration has moved slowly, indicating popular democratic regime, but
achieved the biggest progress in the 20th century. PM seems to be a symbol of such a progress
in the U.S. Wilson continues, “administration in the United States must be at all points
sensitive to public opinion. …The ideal for us is a civil service cultured and self-sufficient
enough to act with sense and vigor, and yet so intimately connected with the popular thought,
by means of elections and constant public counsel…” (p. 216-217).
Stillman (1973) summarizes Wilson’s paper and his Congressional Government as, “His first
book had pointed up the defects of congressional dominance of the federal government.
Consequently he wrestled with the question of how to restore balanced Madisonian
government, strengthen the executive branch, and check the political abuses of Congress.
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© Hun Myoung Park (2014.10.7)
Public Management: 3
While he toyed with British cabinet government as a remedy for the inadequacies of the
American system, his inherent Darwinian conservatism made him reluctant to propose any
foreign solutions” (p.588). Note that Madisonian emphasizes check and balance of power
under pluralistic processes to make “extended representative republic” (Stillman, 1982: 1415).
References
Stillman, Richard J., II. 1973. Woodrow Wilson and the study of administration: a new look
at an old essay. American Political Science Review 67(2): 582-588.
Wilson, Woodrow. 1887. The study of administration. Political Science Quarterly 2: 197222.
End of this note.
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