Evolution of Public Administration

Evolution of the
Field of Public
Administration

Evolution of the Field of Public
Administration
A. Traditional and modern phase;
B The different fields of public administration;
C Selected major ongoing concerns of public administration in
the Philippines (reorganization, decentralization and
corruption).
D. Home grown governance paradigm (Gawad Kalinga) as one
that illustrates successful cooperation between government,
business and civil society in the delivery of basic services,
which after all is a core concern of modern public
administration and good governance.
E. For whom is public administration.

Evolution of the
Field of Public Administration
• To retrace the history and evolution of the broad
discipline and examine the various strands and
influences that have influenced the theory and
practice – the praxis - of public administration in the
Philippines.
• To examine the specific areas and fields of
specialization of the field, taking cognizance of the
many other emerging fields going beyond the
traditional fields of public administration

Phases in the Evolution of Public
Administration
Phase Indicative
Period
Traditional / Classical Public 1800s to
Administration 1950s
Modern Public Administration 1950 to the
Development Administration (1950s to 1960s)
present
New Public Administration (1970s)
New Public Management (1980s to 1990s)
Reinventing Government (1990s)
PA as Governance (1990s to the present)

Traditional / Classical Public Administration

• Public Administration can be traced back to
human history. It has been suggested that it is
as old as the ancient empires of China, India,
Egypt, Greece, Rome and Mesopotomia.
• The institutionalization of administrative
capacity for collective purposes is the
foundation of public administration. Such
arrangement has existed in all societies
(Caiden (1982),.

Traditional / Classical Public Administration

• All societies are devoted to advancing the general
welfare or the public interest. The idea that “public
administration should not be considered
administration of the public but administration for
the public” has been practiced and expressed in the
Code of Hammurabi, in Confucianism and in the
funeral oration of Pericles. (Caiden 1982: 7)

• In other words, the idea of client-oriented public
administration has its roots in ancient public
administration.

• Caiden (1982) also noted that the genesis of
Public Administration must have had
originated from monarchial Europe where
household officials were divided into two
groups: one in charge of public affairs, i.e. the
administration of justice, finance, training of
armies, and the other is responsible for
personal services. Rutgers (1998) supports this
claim that (i.e. royal) administration had
already been manifested way back in the mid
17th century and early 18th century in
Prussia.

• F.K. Medikus (as cited in Rutgers 1998)
likewise argued on the study of public
administration and its positions amidst the
sciences in the 18th century. He advocated
“cameralism” and claimed that it should be
treated as an autonomous field of study of
great importance to the state. Cameral science
is designed to prepare potential public officials
for government service. This practice
flourished in Europe until the 21st century but
it was, in the long run, replaced by
administrative law and legal studies.

Woodrow Wilson’s 1887
1800s to 1950s. If the roots of Public Administration as a
distinct field of study have to be traced, the tendency is to
draw on classic essay, “The Study of Public Administration,”
which was written at the height of Progressive Movement
in the US. It was in that essay that there was a serious
claim that public administration should be a self-conscious,
professional field. Wilson suggested the distinction
between politics and administration i.e. administration
should be politics-free and that “the field of
administration is the field of business;” (Wilson 1953: 71)
thus, establishing what became known as the “politics-
administration” dichotomy. Although Wilson set a
demarcation line between politics and administration

Frank Goodnow (1900)
• Frank Goodnow (1900), the “Father of
American Public Administration,”
presented a more meticulous
examination of politics-administration
dichotomy in his book, “Politics and
Administration” that “supplanted the
traditional concern with the separation
of powers among the various branches
of the government.” (Shafritz and Hyde
1997: 2)

Frank Goodnow (1900)
• Politics administration dichotomy has
provoked long-running debates which
persist until today. It may be argued
though that, as far as the Philippine
experience is concerned, the dichotomy
is artificial and that in practice, power
and partisan politics have had a
disproportionate influence upon the
workings of public administration in the
Philippines

Leonard D. White, 1926
It was in 1926 that the first text in the field of
public administration was written by Leonard D.
White. His book, Introduction to the Study of
Public Administration, is one of the most
influential texts in public administration to date.
One of his assumptions was that administration
is still an art. He, however, recognized the ideal
of transforming it into a science. Interestingly,
his work avoided the potential pitfalls of the
politics-administration dichotomy but rather
concentrated on emphasizing the managerial
phase of administration.

Max Weber (1946),
• a German sociologist who is known as the “Father of
Modern Sociology,” made a lucid descriptive analysis
of bureaucratic organizations. He presented some
major variables or features of bureaucracy such as:
hierarchy, division of labor, formally written rules and
procedures, impersonality and neutrality; hence,
providing a reference point in evaluating both the
good and bad effects of bureaucratic structures.
(Weber 1946 as cited in Shafritz and Hyde 1997)

Reference:
Is there a Philippine Public Administration or
Better Still, for whom is Public
Administration?
By; Alex Brillantes, Jr. and Maricel
Fernandez
June, 2008

Evolution of Public Administration

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