Name: Ma. Abegail F.

Buñao Date: September 25, 2020

Course Instructor: Fatma M. Idris, Dr Dev Subject: MPA 453

THE EVOLUTION OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

The origin of Public Administration can be traced back through examining the rise of

civilization. It is divided into two forms, activity and discipline. The system or bureaucracy as

applied in public administration was traced on the adoption of civilization in the empires of

the ancient times. As an activity, public administration is quite old as life. However, as a field

of discipline, public administration began in 1887. It was introduced by Woodrow Wilson,

who was considered to be the father of public administration. The Politics/ Administration

dichotomy; The Principles of Administration; Criticism and Challenges; Crisis of Identity;

Public Administration are considered to be the phases of public administration as discipline

(Pathshala, 2000).

The Phases of Public administration can be categorized into two: Traditional and

Classical Public Administration. The traditional public administration presents the idea that

administration should be devoted to the general welfare of the public and must be a client-

centered public administration (Brillantes and Mendoza, 2008). Caiden (1982) mentioned

that the origins of the traditional public administration can be traced back in the monarchies

of Europe where someone is in charge for the administration of the commands of the Kings.

Moreover, Rutgers in (1998) accepted these claims and argued that Public administration in

the old ways are still accepted in the modern through accepting administrative and legal

studies (as cited by Hughes, 2016).

1800’s to 1950’s
 In this period, the most famous personality in the study of Public Administration was

Woodrow Wilson (1887) who introduced the concept of “Politics-Administration Dichotomy”. This

concept proposes the idea that Politics and Administration are two distinct field of discipline

which can be combined to become stronger one discipline called Public Administration. Politics

refers to the system of the government, while administration is the system of business. Max

Weber (1946), also presented some features of public administration as discipline, he

mentioned that public administration is interrelated with bureaucracy which we can find the

hierarchy of labor in the public sector. However, White (1926), argued that public administration

has nothing to do with the dichotomy presented by Wilson, instead, it only focuses on

managerialism or management which can be considered the most important aspect of public

administration as discipline.

1950’s to 1970’s

The years 1950’s to 1960’s can be termed as the period of modern public administration. This

period can also be categorized into three: (1) development; (2) new public administration; (3)

New Public Management and Reinventing Government; and (4) the rise of Governance. During

this period, public administration weakens as a result of epistemological identity crisis. This was

due to the rise of many disciplines other than public administration. Development Administration

is considered the first phase of the modern public administration. This emerge from the usage of

the term “developing countries” rather than “third world countries”. Most of these developing

countries are located in Asia, Latin America, and Africa, wherein these countries have done so

much efforts to be recognized as “emerging nation” after the effects done by the Second World

War. Through this, Landau (1970) describes public administration not only as promotion of

public service, but also is considered as the ability of the aspiring countries to achieve their

aspirations and pursue growth and development. However, the rise of the concept of New

Public Administration disregard the meaning of public administration in the traditional public
administration. New Public Administration describes public administration as a discipline which

are not only limited to the administration and public service, but also it is the ability of the

government to provide continuously these services. This generally means that the concept of

the New Public Administration promotes the ability of the government to maximize their

resources to continuously supply services to benefit the general welfare of the people. In

addition, the New Public Administration provides as challenge to the public sector to resist

change or accept it.

New Public Management and Reinventing Government

In the 1980’s and 1990’s a new concept was added to the field of public administration, the

rise of the term New Public Management and Reinventing Government. This concept introduced

the client-centered approach to management and the application of private management

techniques to the transactions of the public sector. One basic reason for this change is the belief

that the government doesn’t have enough resources in achieving its goals. Aside from that the

New Public Management provides possible solutions to economic problems of the traditional

public administration. The tenets of this concepts are the improvement in transparency,

productivity and accountability. It also cuts the long process of bureaucracy into a simpler yet

fruitful one (Brilliantes and Mendoza, 2008).

The rise of Governance

Frechet (2000) says that the inadequacies in the development reforms between the years

1950’s into 1990’s make way on the introduction of other development modifications in the field

of public administration. One of these reforms is the birth of the term “governance”. These

reforms were introduced through international organizations like United Nations (UN), World

Bank (WB), Asian Development Bank (ADB) and others. The word “governance” suddenly has

become famous in recent years, expressed by scholars, authorities and the like. The idea of
governance has always been interlinked with the transactions of the government, and more

likely, creates confusion for the two concepts. Though some scholars agree that they are

connected, the meaning of governance is far greater than the meaning of government.

Governance involves the structure of government as a whole, including its relationship with its

citizens. It includes the political, economic and administrative pillars of a state (as cited by

Brillantes and Fernandez, 2008). United Nations Development Program (1997) describes it as

“the exercise of political, economic and administrative authority to manage the affairs of the

government (as cited by Brillantes and Fernandez, 2008).

In pursuit for further growth and development, the concept of “good governance” was

established around the years 1989 to 1990. Aside from the idea that governance is the political,

economic, and administrative management of the affairs of the state, the idea of good

governance demands the observance of truthful and correct way of handling administrative

processes. It includes the reduction of corruption and dishonesty; and the application of

accountability, and transparency (Brillantes and Fernandez, 2008). Good governance is the

most important ingredient for building prosperous, and well-civilized society, because the

presence of good governance entails the presence of sustainable development, and should be

together with sustainable development. Without good governance and without the rule of law,

no amount of funding and charity could help develop a state. Good governance is considered

the single most important factor in eradicating poverty and promoting development, most

especially in a developing country like the Philippines (Annan, 2000).

Public Administration in the Philippines

Is Public Administration present in the structure of the Philippine government today? The

answer is yes. In so far as the government continues to provide basic public services, promotes

program for the benefit of its citizens, has the unique structure of executive, legislative and

judicial branches, as well as the existence of agencies and local government units, helping the
overall achievement of the functions of the government. We can always say that there is public

administration in the Philippine government.

References:

Annan, K. (2000). We the Peoples. Welcome to the United

Nations. https://www.un.org/en/events/pastevents/pdfs/We_The_Peoples.pdf

Brillantes, A. and Fernandez M. (2008). Is there Public Administration in the

Philippines? https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.516.9862

&re=rep 1&type=pdf

Hughes, O. (2016). Public management or public administration? Academia.edu - Share

research. https://www.academia.edu/15157168/PUBLIC_MANAGEMENT_OR_

PUBLIC_ADMINIST RATION

Pathshala, M. (2000). Evolution of Public Administration. Research

gate. http://epgp.inflibnet.ac.in/epgpdata/uploads/epgp_content/S000030PU/P000179/M

016452/ET/14658892832et.pdf