Republic of the Philippines

WESTERN PHILIPPINE UNIVERSITY

GRADUATE SCHOOL

Course No. /Title: PA 201 (Theory and Practice of Public Administration)

Topic: Evaluation Questions
Date: August 11, 2018

EVALUATION QUESTIONS (Woodrow Wilson's 1887 Seminal Paper)

1. How did Woodrow Wilson justify the creation of the new field of Public
Administration? Why does he view Public Administration as being so
critical to the future of the US?

"Up to our day, all the political writers whom we now read had thought,
argued, dogmatised only about the constitution of government; about
the nature of the state, the essence and seat of sovereignty, popular
power and kingly prerogative; about the greatest meanings lying at the
heart of government, and the high ends set before the purpose of
government by man's nature and man's aims" (Wilson,
Woodrow 1887)

As Woodrow understood, I think he describes Public Administration as a

detailed and systematic way of executing public laws. In his time,
though there was already a government presence, the execution of
laws was still immature. Thus, so many people scrutinise how the
government runs the country. There are many opinions on how to run the
government. The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act became law three
years before Woodrow wrote this. This Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act
requires employees to take a competency exam before being hired to
work for the government, but it was not implemented immediately. This
act was supposed to ensure that these laws were enforced efficiently—
this was why proper Public Administration was critical for the US then.

2. How does the field (Public Administration) define itself today in

contrast with Wilson's 1887 perspective? What are the fundamental
values and outputs?

In Woodrow Wilson's perspective, he defined public administration as

the detailed and systematic application, implementation, or execution
of general laws. Suppose I can define Public Administration in today's
society. In that case, it still is the implementation of government policies
and laws but at some point, how laws and policies are being
implemented is neither detailed nor systematic. As an insight, here in the
Philippines, there are so many policies and laws which are supposedly
beneficial for the people; unfortunately, once those laws and policies
are ready for implementation, those implementers have a different
interpretation of the law which results in a variety of performances also.
Hence, sometimes laws are not effective.

3. Why does Wilson stress the importance of finding the appropriate

relations between democracy and Public Administration throughout his
essay? What does he mean by that? For Examples?

Reading the material made me think about this pressing concern and
why Woodrow stressed the need as to why there should be an
appropriate relationship between democracy and Public
Administration. Here in the Philippines, we are a democratic country; we
can choose whom we want to vote for, we have the freedom to say
what we want and many more. For Woodrow, Public Administration is
how public officials should execute laws effectively and efficiently. It has
to be detailed and systematic. Sometimes, our legislators or public
officials make laws or attempt to make changes in a community through
projects which they think are better for the people or the community.
Yet, sometimes those are not being pushed through since we are
democratic. They still would need the approval of the people. An
example for me is the proposed coal plant for Palawan. It may be a
significant step towards innovation, but it was not pushed through
because the citizen approved of it, and we may not be able to see if
this does good for us or not.

4. What are the central problems Public Administration is trying to

address now compared to Wilson's era?

One problem I think our current Public Administration is trying to address

is the laws' execution. We have so many helpful and excellent laws. Still,
during implementation, every single department has a different way of
implementation, thus resulting in the public questioning the law itself.
Another example is the red tape. The President himself would like to ease
the transactions made by the public to the government. This will be
achieved by having government service canters approachable, easy
to transact with and have proper access to the services offered by the
government.

(Reyes, Danilo. 2003. "The Study of Public Administration in Perspective:

A Passing Review of the Development of the Discipline")

1. Why did Reyes tag Public Administration's historical perspective as a

"plethora of voices"? What did he mean by this, and why did he say so?
Do you agree or not? Why or Why not. Explain.

Reyes tagged Public Administration's historical perspective as a

"plethora of voices" because there were so many people who had
defined what Public Administration is. At some point, the definition of
Public Administration varied depending on the person defining it. Yes, I
agree with Reyes. Even now, in modern times, when we look up the
meaning of Public Administration on the web, we can still see so many
individuals who define Public Administration in various ways. Though
these are different, we can still see the core of its meaning in public
administration, supposedly for the service of the people or the public.

2. Was the issue of the legitimacy of Public Administration as a science

and discipline answered or solved? Why or Why not?

Yes. This issue was resolved about the legitimacy of Public Administration,
a science or a discipline. If one person takes Public Administration as an
undergraduate course or study, it is a science. If one p practices Public
Administration in their profession, it becomes a discipline.
3. Explain why the volatility and dynamism of Public Administration as a
discipline also became its prime criticism.

As we say, Public Administration will always be present as long as there

is a government in a governmental topic. But then, it may continually
change depending on the current trends of the government. Volatility,
according to Merriam is, "likely to change the very sudden or extreme
way", and dynamism, in philosophy is, "everything can be explained as
manifestations of force". Public Administration will continue to adapt to
this environment, but as long as it exists, Public Administration will also
live.

Since Public Administration changes or varies depending on the

government or environment. Public Administration is also subjected to
criticism. Changes in how we define Public Administration or P Public
Administration itself became the first reason it is being doubted.