Complementarity of politics and administration as a legitimate alternative to the dichotomy model
By: SVARA, James H
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Material type: 
ArticlePublisher: Thousand Oaks : SAGE, January 1999Administration & Society 30, 6, p. 676-705Abstract: Although the politics-administration dichotomy model has frequently been presented as historically important but conceptually and empirically faulty, the criticisms have missed two fundamental points. First, it is notas commonly presumedthe founding theory of public administration in the United States but rather a poorly grounded characterization of the early literature that took hold in the late 1950s. The term dichotomy was rarely used before that time and never used by the "founders" of the field who were supposed to have invented the model. Second, there is an alternative model of complementarity that has been present in the literature from Wilson onward. It stresses interdependency, reciprocal influence, and extensive interaction between elected officials and administrators along with recognition of the need for distinct roles and political supremacy. The politics-administration complementarity modelelaborated here with references to the "old" public administration literature prior to 1960offers a strong foundation on which we can build
Although the politics-administration dichotomy model has frequently been presented as historically important but conceptually and empirically faulty, the criticisms have missed two fundamental points. First, it is notas commonly presumedthe founding theory of public administration in the United States but rather a poorly grounded characterization of the early literature that took hold in the late 1950s. The term dichotomy was rarely used before that time and never used by the "founders" of the field who were supposed to have invented the model. Second, there is an alternative model of complementarity that has been present in the literature from Wilson onward. It stresses interdependency, reciprocal influence, and extensive interaction between elected officials and administrators along with recognition of the need for distinct roles and political supremacy. The politics-administration complementarity modelelaborated here with references to the "old" public administration literature prior to 1960offers a strong foundation on which we can build
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