Development and Dynamics of State Administration in Indonesia: The Struggle of the Discourse of the “State” Administration vis a vis the “Public” Administration

Abstract

Since Woodrow Wilson “stirred up” the United States public through his writing entitled The Study of Administration (1887) in the journal Political Science Quarterly, state administration began to develop to worldwide, including to Indonesia. Since the 1990s, the state administration has grown considerably compared to Wilson's time. It cannot be denied that the development of State Administration Science is so massive in its home country of the United States and other Anglo-Saxon countries such as England, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. While in developing countries, the dynamics of State Administration is not so intense because there is still strong political, bureaucratic and cultural control. The concept of “State Administration” is not “public administration” for a while until the author can accept the logic thinking (epistemology) of Public Administration as the mainstream science of State Administration in Indonesia today. In theory, concepts and paradigms, state administration is experiencing a fairly rapid development. Many contemporary theories have emerged in the repertoire of State Administration that criticize and enrich classical theories such as theories about Organization and bureaucracy. That development is something natural considering that state administration is part of the social sciences that have dynamic characteristics, unlike the Natural Sciences which tend to be passive and positivistic. This development should be appreciated because it indicates that the state administration is able to exist in the midst of increasingly complex community problems and needs concrete solutions.