Public policy administration is the implementation of government policies based on expert analysis. Citizens can influence policy decisions, and there are two approaches: humanistic and rational. Woodrow Wilson advocated for scientific management practices. However, politics can influence administration, and decision-makers may not be impartial.
Public policy administration is the implementation and management of government policies, based on expert analysis and resolution of specific problems that generally have a far-reaching impact on citizens living under the government in question. Politicians and policy analysts formulate public policies at the national, regional and local levels. Citizens are often active actors who have influence over public policy decisions that could be beneficial to their particular interests. Consequently, the administration of public policies is, at times, seen as a humanistic endeavour.
A rational approach can also be adopted when it comes to the administration of public policies. An example of this can be seen in the United States in the 1980s, while President Reagan was in the White House, and later during the first decade of the 21st century, under the administration of George W. Bush. With a rational approach, public policy administrators attempt to implement and sustain policy in a way that promotes private business and government bureaucracy. It could be argued that the policies implemented under those presidencies were not really “public” in the true sense of the word, since they largely ignored the problems of the average man or woman on the street, and especially the poor, who they typically relied heavily on government programs like Medicaid and food stamps. For example, President Bush has gone to great lengths to try to get the American public and political analysts to accept the privatization of the Social Security system.
Since the 19th century, public administration theorists have oscillated between advocating rational and humanistic systems for formulating and administering policy. In a seminal article titled The Study of Administration, published in 1887, future US president Woodrow Wilson advanced the ways policymakers could best serve citizens, based on scientific management practices. He advocated keeping politics and administration as independent areas, as he viewed administration more as a scientific enterprise.
Indeed, public policies are decisions that have been reached through data analysis and implemented, ostensibly for the good of the people living under governments, by public administrations. Political science, however, has always been considered one of the social sciences, which means that it can be influenced by human contingencies. While all social scientists use scientific methods, such as compiling quantifiable data to reach or replicate certain conclusions, it is possible that, in addition to citizens, the key players in the administration of public policies – the analysts and decision makers – are never truly impartial or neutral in real practice.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
