The Politics-Administration Dichotomy

Overeem, Patrick

doi:10.4324/9781315085548

Cited by 7 publications

(11 citation statements)

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“…For a map of the almost endless debate on this issue, see Du Gay (2000, pp. 114-135) and Overeem (2009). For the purpose of this study, it is sufficient to mention that in the Dutch administrative system, both personnel management and information systems come under operational management.…”

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confidence: 99%

Birth of a Failure: Consequences of Framing ICT Projects for the Centralization of Inter-Departmental Relations

Pelizza

Hoppe

2015

Administration & Society

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Government information system failures are filling not only newspapers but also parliamentary and administrative reports. This article deals with a case in which information and communication technologies (ICT)-related failure claimed by the media influenced the parliamentary agenda, and intra-governmental relations. Drawing on a narrative analysis of a Dutch parliamentary commission's hearings, it argues that the way the issue was initially framed by the media and then adopted, un-problematized, by Parliament steered the direction of action toward specific administrative solutions, thus shaping the landscape of possible organizational alliances. The article recommends a proactive role of parliaments in framing ICT projects.

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confidence: 99%

Birth of a Failure: Consequences of Framing ICT Projects for the Centralization of Inter-Departmental Relations

Pelizza

Hoppe

2015

Administration & Society

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“…23 Sometimes it directs over the line-type bureau. For example, in the case of planning policy deeply related to the minister's main political aim, the cabinet ministériel firstly gives instructions about the basic direction to each administrative bureau and finally examines the policy proposals presented by them (Penaud, 2004). 24…”

Section: Political Appointees In the Four Countriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“… 24. For example, according to Penaud (2004: 116), in 2000, more than 90% of orders to the Health Bureau, Ministry of Social Affairs and Health were sent by the cabinet ministériel of the ministry, while less than 2% of those were sent directly by the minister.…”

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confidence: 99%

A study of the functions of political appointees from a comparative perspective

Makita

2021

Asian Journal of Comparative Politics

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In this article, the functions of political appointees have been classified by an index on the relation between politics and bureaucracy. Based on that classification, the real states of four democracies, the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Japan, have been examined. From this study, the causation consisting of the politico-administrative relation (concretely, the insider-outsider factor and the line-staff factor), the independent value, and the political appointees' functions (advice, decision-making and interface between politicians and civil servants), the dependent value, has been confirmed. Through this examination from a comparative perspective, a proposal of generalization about the political appointees' functions has been presented.

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“…This ultimately prevents both 'clientelism, the triumph of political corruption over professional values, and technocracy, the triumph of self-proclaimed experts over representatives of the people' (Mouritzen and Svara, 2002: ix). Overeem (2006Overeem ( , 2010, drawing on the writings of Waldo (1952Waldo ( , 1965Waldo ( , 1987, has, for his part, come out in defence of dichotomy. According to him, the idea of complementarity, which focuses on reciprocity, cooperation and trust, is naive.…”

Section: The Political-administrative Interfacementioning

confidence: 99%

Sensemaking and the political–administrative interface: the challenges of strategically steering and managing a local public service

Audette-Chapdelaine

2016

International Review of Administrative Sciences

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Our study focuses on the relationship between elected officials and managers in the context of local services management. We analyse the political–administrative interface using Weick’s theory of sensemaking. Our research, based on the case of water services management in Montreal, shows that the loss of expertise in the public sector, coupled with a lack of political vision, leads to a mismatch between the actions envisaged by the managers and the resources available. The organizational purpose needs to be politically defined in order to achieve a reciprocal influence in policy making. This collaboration, or complementarity of politics and administration, allows shared sensemaking that is essential both to a management diagnosis in line with the organizational mission and to strategic decision-making which takes into account the civil servants’ recommendations. Points for practitioners Some urban infrastructures, such as water infrastructure, are neither easily visible nor accessible. Thus, there is sometimes a wide gap between managers’ interpretation of the situation and that of the citizens and elected officials. This is a challenge for the development of common sensemaking. Elected officials must be able to count on a competent civil service that provides them with reliable information, enabling them to make trade-offs with all the relevant facts at hand. It is also in the public interest that elected officials maintain strategic control of the water activity in order for public action to efficiently contribute to the political vision.

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The Politics-Administration Dichotomy

Cited by 7 publications

References 0 publications

Birth of a Failure: Consequences of Framing ICT Projects for the Centralization of Inter-Departmental Relations

Birth of a Failure: Consequences of Framing ICT Projects for the Centralization of Inter-Departmental Relations

A study of the functions of political appointees from a comparative perspective

Sensemaking and the political–administrative interface: the challenges of strategically steering and managing a local public service

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